Shirou Reborn (Old)
by Omniwriter1234
Summary: Shirou is taught more than in canon and deciding to attempt a Summoning has very unintended consequences, consequences that will change the entire Grail War he soon finds himself in. (New story up)
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I in no way shape or form own Fate/stay night or any thing derived from it with all belonging to their respective owners and I am in no way, shape, or form attempting to make a profit from this work of fiction.

Alright, disclaimer's out the way so a little bit of background here before you read on. This is my first Fate/stay night story and if I messed anything up correct me but don't leave a rant on everything I messed up on if you leave a review. Anyway this is something I had to get out of my head and I'll probably update it...well like my other stories which is whenever I feel like it or however long the ideas keep flowing but it won't be abandoned, I will finish this story just not very quickly.

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><p>Shirou Emiya looked at the circle on the floor and then moved his eyes back to the notebook holding the same symbol and then the whiteboard he had drawn the symbol on and then to the far wall, it covered in pictures of different parts of the circle, magnified to see all of their details.<p>

"I guess this is it, I've got it all set, well hopefully I do." Shirou commented as he looked over the notes left in his adopted father's journal, well one of them at least and he had long ago transferred them to different pieces of paper with them hung up on the wall closest to him just to check over everything again.

His adopted father had warned him of the dangers of what he was doing in the journal but after reading over what his father had done he found himself needing to try it, just to see if it was happening.

"I really hope this works." Shirou spoke mostly to himself before moving to his spot on the circle and drawing a special knife from his belt and he quickly cut the palms of both hands before slamming them together, the circle at his feet glowing with energy as his blood seemed to be drawn to the two small circles around his hands and from there it flowed through the entire circle." Time for a Summoning."

He was supposed to do a chant or something after this but things quickly failed.

The circle kept drawing his blood, turning it an ominous crimson that filled the specially modified shack he worked in with a crimson light.

"What the hell is happening?" Shirou asked even when he knew he wouldn't get an answer and moments later he felt as if his entire body had been dipped in molten steel but his body wouldn't burn, he could only feel what it was like to burn with the pain never ending, at least in his mind it was.

He began screaming at that point, the pain growing far beyond anything he had ever endured before.

The light suddenly faded before in bright explosion Shirou's now smoking form was thrown back and into a wall where he very quickly fell unconscious in moments.

"What the hell?" a voice asked before the last thing Shirou saw was a flash of the crimson light and he heard a bloodcurdling scream from whoever or whatever the Summoning brought.

He didn't know how long he laid there but eventually he managed to climb his way back to consciousness, dimly noticing the light from when he had started had vanished and was replaced by darkness.

"What happened and why is my head hurting so much?" Shirou asked the air.

'It's the merging.'

"WHAT!?"

'The merging, don't make me repeat myself again.'

'This is not good, not good at all.'

'Or maybe it is.'

'No, no it isn't.'

'Wait! Maybe it can be good?'

'No, it can't.'

'Why through?'

'Because, stuff like this shouldn't happen, it shouldn't ever happen!'

It was at this point that one Shirou Emiya realized he was having an argument with himself and that he should stop because not only was it a little childish but he was pretty sure he was losing it.

"I guess this is what I get when I try my hand at Summoning." Shirou spoke as he slowly sat up from where he was laying on the ground." I botched it up and now I've got a voice inside my head."

'How bout you go look in a mirror too?' the voice spoke, like his but changed by age, being deeper and more mature.' And record the whole thing, I want to see your face besides in a memory.'

"Oh man, I seriously messed up! I don't even have a normal voice in my head, I've got some weirdo sharing head space with me!" Shirou shouted at the ceiling above him as he moved to the door only to pause at what he saw in the polished table of his workshop.

He had changed, a lot.

His once auburn hair had turned white and had gained spikes and been swept back with his eyes had changed as well and his skin had somehow gotten a tan.

"Please tell me I'm dreaming." Shirou pleaded out loud and he heard chuckling in his head.

'Nope.' the voice answered after a moment and Shirou looked around him, seeing a set of knives he was working on sitting on the table and quickly grabbed them.' What are you doing idiot?'

"Testing." Shirou answered before flipping a knife in hand and stabbing it down into his arm.

After a moment an earsplitting scream startled the birds from the trees and woke up his neighbors.

"What is that!?"

"Is it construction or something?"

Shirou ripped the knife out of his arm while he rolled on the ground in pain.

"Dammit that hurts!" Shirou screamed as he heard full blown laughter in his head.

'That was hilarious, do it again, do it again!'

'You ass!'

'You're the ass, who just stabs themselves?'

'You could have told me this was real!'

'But it was too funny not to, I mean you went full moron and stabbed yourself.'

'Why am I stuck with the weirdo in my head?' Shirou asked himself with a sigh before he looked in in shock as the stab wound sealed itself with what looked like tiny blades before they changed to skin.

"What was that?" Shirou asked as he looked at his arm, still in shock.

'I have no idea.' the voice answered, for once not sarcastic or insulting.' I've never done that before.'

"I…I think I'm going to bed." Shirou spoke after a moment, his feet dragging as he walked across the backyard.

'I've really got to sort this out in the morning.'

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><p>AN: Well, that probably could have been done better but I'm pretty sure what happened is pretty cut and dry.<p>

Anyway, leave a review on where the story should go or a pairing.

Peace.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I do not own Fate/stay night or anything else in this story with all belonging to its rightful owner and I am in no way shape or form attempting to or making a profit from this work of fiction.

Alright, a quick note here, I felt this chapter got a bit out of hand and unfocused so other chapters probably won't be this long but it really just kept flowing and flowing so if there's any problems with it leave a review on it or on any questions you may have on it.

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><p>One Rin Tohsaka was very pleased with herself, sure she may have been the last to summon a Servant for the Holy Grail War but it seems luck was with her, that or the prana filled jewels now laying shattered in the circle helped a lot, but regardless of whatever it was she had managed to summon a Servant and a Saber as well, her preferred choice with it being one of the stronger classes.<p>

She also had an ironclad plan to insure their victory in the war but first she needed to get somewhere which is why she and Saber were walking down the deserted streets of Fuyuki, it was a little bit after midnight so most residents in the neighborhood she was in were fast asleep and staying that way.

'Hopefully I can get him to agree to this all willingly or I'll have to get rid of a dead body.' Rin thought as she saw her destination down the block.

"Master, where are we going?" Saber asked as they walked down the street, Rin not revealing their destination to her Servant, at least not yet.

"My house is a likely target and it's somewhat closed off, bringing the possibility of attacks at any time with no one nearby so for the duration of the war we'll be staying with a…'friend'."

If Saber heard how Rin's last word was almost, no it was very forced she didn't comment on it and the two Grail War particiapants found themselves in front of the home of one Shirou Emiya.

Knocking on the door proved useless, the very confused Magus, or was he a Servant, maybe or at least partly, was trying to work out what actually happened to him during his perfectly executed Summoning, well at least the symbol was since the results was his current problem.

'You may want to go answer the door.' The voice in his head spoke after a moment, drawing him from one of the old man's journals, this one going in detail on the Grail War and the part Shirou wanted to look at the most, the different ways to execute a Summoning and so far his case hadn't come up, he couldn't even find a matching symbol.

"No I don't." Shirou answered, moving his eyes back down to the book." And besides, I don't exactly look like myself."

'You're an idiot, there's an easy way to fix that.' The voice told him and Shirou slowly stood up.

'Yeah, how?' Shirou asked, stopping at this bit of information.

'A basic ability you should possess called lying.' The voice answered and Shirou let loose a string of curses before stopping as he could almost feel the voice somehow shrug.' Or you can just call yourself a Servant, you kind of are one now.'

'So now I'm one of these Servants?' Shirou asked even when he knew he wouldn't get an answer.

'Partly.' The voice answered to Shirou's minor surprise, his questions were normally ignored, actually the reason he was pouring over those journals was because he was looking for answers the voice wasn't willing to give him.

'I hate you.'

'Good to know, same to you. And by the way, call yourself Archer from now on, it's the class I would have been summoned in as if you didn't botch up the Summoning.'

'I didn't botch it up, the thing went wild.'

'Yes, and it went wild on your part and that's what people call botching it.'

'I hate you.'

'Already said that.'

Shirou learned that he hated the voice in his head but was willing to listen to his advice, backed up by his old man's notes on the Grail War and after a quick mental check he decided to work it into a plan he was hurriedly forming just as he reached the door.

'It won't work.' The voice spoke up as they looked over the plan in his mind.' You won't even get past the first step.'

'Why am I stuck with the sarcastic voice inside my head?'

'Because you suck.'

'I…' Shirou didn't finish his thoughts as he very quickly realized something as his hand wrapped around the knob.' Who's even there? Taiga is on a trip somewhere and she really doesn't tell me anything if it isn't about cooking for her, and I gave Sakura a break for the rest of the month, she should be at home still even if this is her.'

"Kick it down."

The door shattered and Shirou, or Archer he guessed, worked on instinct. Two spheres of red light appeared in his hands before they grew into a set of twin silver longswords even as he leapt back and with Reinforcement he strengthened both his weapons and his body while he waited for an attack.

'Good, it looks like you've got my instincts.' The voice in his head spoke, almost a proud tone in his voice.' Bur your Reinforcement could be faster, we're going to have to work on that.'

Shirou resisted the urge to send an insult back at the voice and instead focused his attention on his destroyed door and currently smoke filled doorway.

"Who's there?" Shirou demanded, nothing happening for a few moments before Rin walked in, looking around at his house before her eyes locked on him and his new appearance.

"Hello Shirou. Dye your hair and get a tan or something?"

"You could say that." Shirou answered as he lowered his weapons, glad that Rin had asked a question on his appearance, letting him get out of having to explain it, and that they hadn't seen each other in a few weeks, school having let out and she had been preparing for the Grail War ever since, unbeknownst to him even if he knew it was coming from the marks on his hands.

The Magus/Servant through immediately put his swords up when Saber walked in behind Rin.

"Who's with you Rin?" Shirou asked as his eyes locked onto Saber and the sword at her waist.

Rin's eyes very quickly widened in shock at his question before she just as quickly schooled her features into a confused mask.

'He shouldn't be able to see her, he's not even that good of a Magus, just able to make swords, and I've never even heard of someone seeing Servants when they're in astral form.'

"What do you mean Shirou, I'm the only one here." Rin answered after a moment and Shirou frowned before his face was taken over by an enraged expression.

'This should be fun.' The voice in his head commented as Shirou seemed to have lost it at this point.

"Do you take me for an idiot!" Shirou snapped." I know all about this Grail War and I know you have a Servant with you so if you want to fight just say so and I'll kick your ass!"

Shirou would later guess his outburst was from everything that had happened up to that point or he was really going insane and was having mood swings now.

Or the voice in his head was somehow making him angry, which was the most likely to him even if it was unlikely.

But really none of that mattered as Rin's face turned to stone with her eyes narrowed as Saber appeared at her side.

"Saber, kill him." Rin ordered as she pointed to Shirou and stepped back while her Servant slowly walked forward, reluctant to kill someone not a Servant or Master in the Grail War.

"My Master has ordered me to kill you, please lay down your arms and leave. I do not wish to hurt those not Servants and who have not harmed my Master." Saber told him and Shirou pointed the tip of one the longswords in his hands forward.

"You just broke into my house, I'm really taking that as an offense over all the other stuff that's happened to me today so I'm going to cut you with these swords no matter what." Shirou answered before he blurred forward.

Saber, or as she was called in life Arthuria Pendragon or the King of Knights, sighed as she seemingly drew not even a weapon from her side.

"So be it." Saber commented as Shirou's two swords clashed with her seemingly invisible one.

"Don't hold anything back Saber." Rin spoke up as she left the room, figuring the fight would be over within a few seconds." He could potentially be one of the Masters, kill him to lower the competition we'll face later on."

Shirou didn't know how he blocked Saber's next three rapid strikes, moving so fast that it seemed like they were all coming at once but he managed somehow.

'There!' the voice in his head screamed at him and Shirou's eyes were drawn to Saber's left leg where she was slightly unbalanced from a lunge just moments ago.

He moved faster than he thought possible, strengthening the Reinforcement already enhancing his speed and he swept her feet out from under her before his two longswords came down, aiming to pierce both her lungs.

Saber's armor shattered the blades on contact and Shirou did the only thing he could and leapt back as a bow formed in his hands on instinct before a spiraling sword appeared in his hand before in a flash of light it was now an arrow. Shirou glanced at the loaded bow in his hands and very quickly found himself glad for his continued practice of archery even if he didn't stay in the club and simply waited for Saber to make a move before a brief image flashed into his mind of the arrow's destructive potential and since he was in no mood to destroy the entire neighborhood he decided on a new plan.

"You know even if you try to move or use some magic to attack me that I'll hit you with this so how about you just leave?" Shirou asked, hoping the Servant wouldn't see his bluff.

Saber who was about to use her Prana Burst coupled with the release of Invisible Air to rocket forward and attack him before he could lose the arrow instead returned her sword to its scabbard.

"This fight is over." Saber spoke as she stepped back and Shirou, or Archer, he didn't really know, used Reinforcement while turning to see a black orb from the almost forgotten Rin speed towards him, the Master having watched from the hall and had decided to intervene when Shirou had his attention focused solely on Saber.

He somehow rolled out of the way and swiftly called a pair of spears to his hands and flung them both, one towards Saber and the other towards Rin.

Neither hit their mark and moments later Shirou rose his hands in the air in surrender, mentally cursing the voice inside his head and his insane plan not to mention him messing up certain kill blows by taking over his body.

'This better work.'

'It will.' The voice answered.

"I surrender. I'll even help you win the Grail War, my old man has a lot of information on it. Of course it's in code so you can either spend days looking it over trying to decipher it or I can do it for you." Shirou told the two, ending his little speech with a small grin at the tempting offer he laid down to Rin and Saber at the suggestion of the voice in his head.

After several tense moments where Shirou was about to form a pair of short swords and hope to kill Rin with one to take down both her and Saber before he stopped himself from enacting his plan when the Tohsaka Master nodded to him.

Rin knew when someone was pleading for their life and Shirou wasn't showing any of the signs so he had some type of plan for when it came to the Grail War and her and Saber, what it was she didn't know but the potential information was enough for her to decide to accept.

And besides, if things went south she could always have Saber kill him, he didn't even have a Servant or if he did it was either a cowardly one, highly unlikely unless the Grail was growing weak and had to draw Servants that weren't exactly heroes, or they were a traitor with that one much more likely with Shirou's personality and behavior easily angering to most potential Servants he could summon, if he even knew how.

He was a really terrible Magus and from what Rin had discovered about him he had very little skills, only Reinforcement and Projection, two basic concepts he would never move on from and a Magus was worth nothing with so little abilities.

"Saber, stand down, for now at least." Rin spoke after a moment of thought as she turned from her Servant to Shirou." We plan to use your house for a headquarters during the Grail War, any objections?"

"Anything I'll say would just be ignored so no, can't say I have anything to say, that is if you would actually listen." Shirou answered as he lowered his arms and walked away." Follow me if you want the notes."

Saber walked ahead of Rin with Shirou heading down to the basement, his adopted father first and then himself reinforcing it just like the shed he normally used for his many experiments so it was well protected from anything sort of the apocalypse. The basement was more research oriented through with a less practical use for experiments from the shelves of books lining three of the four walls with the other entirely gone, the basement having been expanded and leading into a long archive like room.

"Where is it?" Rin asked as she stopped at the bottom of the steps.

"Somewhere, give me a minute." Shirou answered as he mentally went over where those specific journals were.

He found them and tossed the box containing them over his shoulder, surprising himself with his sudden surge in strength while Saber caught the box with both hands before setting it on the floor.

Rin seemed satisfied at the contents of the box after a quick look over and with a nod to Saber the Servant picked up the box and went upstairs with it.

"So, anything you want to tell me with Saber gone?" Rin asked and Shirou shook his head.

"Nothing I can think of besides the normal I can make a lot of weapons. But you already know that, I found the spy bug in my shed months ago." Shirou answered, luckily having crushed them when he began preparing the Summoning or else Rin would know whatever the hell happened to him.

"So you aren't an idiot after all?" Rin asked before walking up the steps, missing Shirou's eyes darkening before he shook it off and decided on trying to figure out what happened to him.

'You really are an idiot.' The voice spoke in his head and Shirou considered hitting his head on the wall.' Won't work.'

'Damn, did that Summoning weld you to my mind or something?'

'Yep, you're stuck with me.'

Shirou climbed up the steps, still cursing and ran straight into Rin who was on her way down.

He somehow caught her and himself before they could fall and sat her back down on the steps while sidestepping her and during the entire thing he never stopped walking, simply moving with her or slowing down but never stopping.

"I need to go see something, don't do anything to my house." Shirou told her before walking to the shack in the backyard and locking the door behind him.

Around four days later, night…

Shirou was looking in the basement for another set of journals his old man kept but was having no luck in finding anything.

'Where are they?' Shirou asked himself.

'In a box.' The voice in his head answered for him.

'Well thank you Captain Obvious!' Shirou mentally shouted only to hear chuckling in response.

He was currently standing on a few boxes trying to reach a higher shelf in the archive part of the basement to no avail and from upstairs Rin heard a loud crash and sighed.

'He has to make all that noise when I'm reading something this important?' Rin asker herself as she marked her page and set the book down, intending to read more about Saber's abilities later as she walked towards the basement door.

"Do you need help or something?" Rin called down from the steps.

"Oh I'm fine, just buried under a hundred or so books!" Shirou shouted the last part and Rin sighed as Saber appeared next to her.

"Perhaps we should assist him." Saber spoke and Rin walked down the steps after a moment of thought.

'He's a decent fighter and he could be useful.' Rin reasoned with herself as she walked into the archives.

Saber was already there and was throwing away the books burying Shirou.

'Wow, you're weak.' The voice in his head commented and Shirou growled.

'I'm going to kill you.'

'You already tried that with the knife, only hurt yourself.'

'Damn you!'

Outside his house a hulking dark skinned figure stood with a crimson eyed and silver haired girl standing next to him.

"We've found him." The girl told the figure who merely grunted." And a Master and her Servant there as well? Good luck for us, we get to kill two birds with one stone."

She only received another grunt from the figure next to her before pointing to Shirou's house.

"He's inside." The girl spoke and with a roar the hulking creature moved forward." Kill him, Berserker."

Shirou heard the roar from in the basement and stopped searching.

"So, do we draw straws on who goes up and fights whatever that thing is?" Shirou asked even as he jumped down from the ladder he had created with some effort, more like a bunch of spears hammered together, and walked towards the steps." Or does the guy who really doesn't mean anything next to one of the stronger Servants in this war and head of a noble family go up and die just on principle?"

"I wouldn't say you mean nothing, more like lesser than me, by a lot." Rin told him and Shirou frowned.

"Is this supposed to be helping?" Shirou asked and Rin laughed.

"No but I hope you know you'll be killed if you go up, Saber can handle him." Rin answered and the voice in Shirou's head chuckled.

'I remember this, it's not going to go well if Saber goes and fights Berserker alone, his ability is a shocker to anyone who fights him for the first time, especially with no information of him.' The voice spoke and Shirou could hear the grin on his face.' It'll be funny to see how long it takes her to realize it.'

'You're a sadistic bastard, you know that?' Shirou asked only to receive more chuckling.

Despite all odds and how fast things were going since his botched Summoning, Shirou was finding that he was actually growing use to the voice in his head, even if he was still debating his level of sanity or if he's already totally lost it at this point. There was a voice in his head, one he held conversations with and argued with over sometimes pointless and sometimes important things, the arguments really one of the constants of their relationship, and he was getting used to it. Yeah, he was totally bonkers at this point.

"Good luck with that then but keep the fight away from my house." Shirou called out to Saber as he found the journals he was looking for and tossed the first of eight to Rin." Read it, I think they're about the Grail and the Servant classes, really specific to those in the Fourth Holy Grail War through."

"Do you really think I would come into this war not knowing anything?" Rin asked, insulted he would think the Tohsaka family wouldn't give her enough information to win the Grail War.

"No but my old man has a different outlook on them." Shirou answered before looking up towards the ceiling.

Shirou heard the sounds of a fight upstairs and merely sighed as his bow appeared in his hands followed by a broadsword that quickly shifted into an arrow.

"I tell them to keep it outside and they do something like this in my living room." Shirou muttered as he climbed up the steps.

Berserker had slammed through the wall instead of even attempting to use the door and Shirou nearly cried at all the damages ranging from several destroyed walls to cracked floors that he was going to have to fix when this was all over, if his house even stayed standing that is.

Saber was parrying Berserker's blows and Shirou glanced at the axe sword that was Berserker's weapon.

'Interesting.' Shirou thought as he used Reinforcement on both himself, the arrow, and the bow before several of the broadsword arrows slammed into Berserker and Shirou paled when nothing happened that is except for drawing the incredibly powerful behemoth's attention to him.

'Yeah, I probably should have warned you against that.' The voice in his head spoke up, barely containing laughter.' Straightforward attacks don't work unless they're incredibly powerful and even then it won't work again.'

'So I just kill him with a single attack, like blowing his head off.' Shirou thought as he was about to do so when he felt his body seemingly move on its own and roll out the of Berserker's fist before a dagger appeared in each hand and they stabbed through Berserker's wrist before being pulled back with all his strength, the attack supposed to separate his hands into three useless pieces but the blades actually snapped at the hilt when they were pulled and Shirou, now back in control, stumbled back in the same shock and felt the same shock coming off of the Servant in his head.

"Umm, sorry about that?"

Berserker roared before flinging Shirou away and into a wall that he very quickly used Reinforcement on, preventing it from breaking and adding to the damage he was going to have to repair.

'Yeah, that didn't work.' The voice commented.' We need to get him to another more open space if we want to hit him with anything big and avoid more damage than either of us would like to the house.'

Shirou once again used Reinforcement on his body and his next move was certainly suicidal.

He attacked Berserker's Master, lunging forward with a silver short sword appearing in each hand.

The girl easily dodged it but he drew Berserker's attention and, sadly, he accomplished his intended goal.

'Yeah, you should run and you want to do that very, very fast.' The voice in his head spoke, soon collapsing into laughter once again as Shirou was forced to run for his life from an even angrier Berserker who proved to be far faster than he looked and was gaining ground on Shirou, it didn't help that he failed to notice the cars he was tearing in half just by hitting them with his tree trunk size legs.

'Why the hell did you make me do that you bastard!' Shirou mentally screamed as he strengthened the Reinforcement to increase his speed and he found himself slowly gaining distance on the unstoppable force known as the Berserker-class Servant.

'Because this is hilarious.' The voice answered, managing to stop their laughter long enough to answer before falling into it again.

'BASTARD!'

"Saber, go after him!" Rin shouted up at her Servant from downstairs, still looking over the journals and her eyes widening as she read the last of one." We need him alive, according to these he can be a powerful ally!"

"As you wish Master." Saber announced before racing out of the house.

A red spear struck the ground in front of her with a blue haired figure in a blue bodysuit standing in front of her moments later and wrenching the spear out the ground.

"Lancer." Saber stated as Rin cursed before heading up the steps, knowing her Servant just entered a fight but Saber was nowhere near close to Berserker or Shirou yet.

"That was announcing my presence by the way." Lancer announced as he pulled the spear out the ground." It's not my style to act like a coward and attack someone from behind or when they're unaware."

"You are an honorable warrior then but I do not have the time to properly battle you, please move yourself out of the way and we may fight again in the future." Saber told him and Lancer frowned.

"I really can't let you go, once I've entered a fight I can't really go and run away from it like a coward, that would ruin my legend if it got out." Lancer spoke after a moment before stepping in front of Saber's path towards Shirou and Archer." And besides, one of us has to die now."

"Then we will have to fight." Saber announced as she drew her sword." I am sorry that I must kill you."

"Dying in battle is a great death." Lancer announced before lunging forward with his spear with Saber drawing her sword and blocking it but was nearly thrown back into Shirou's house from the force of it.

Rin ran out of the house and yet again cursed as she could hear Berserker's roars even when they had to be some distance away.

"Saber, end this fight quickly and come to me when it's over!" Rin ordered as with a quick use of Reinforcement she ran towards Shirou and Berserker.

Saber deflected another lung from Lancer and nodded towards Rin before striking down, aiming to cleave the spear in half only for Lancer to grin before drawing the long weapon back quicker than she thought possible and aiming to put his spear through her stomach. He suddenly leapt into the air through and a longsword shaped into an arrow flew past his throat, the Servant narrowly avoiding the arrow slitting it.

"Nice." Lancer commented as he shielded his eyes with one hand and stared somewhere in the distance from his height in the air." That was a pretty good shot."

Three other longswords shaped into arrows aimed to pin him to the building nearby only for him to swipe his spear and knock them off course and send them crashing into the street.

'I want to meet that guy after this, those shots made my arm numb just from deflecting them.'

He landed and turned back to Saber who sprinted forward once again with Lancer following her.

The resulting clash of spear and sword threw both back from the rebound before both lunged forward again, Lancer grinning at the great fight in the future.

Rin meanwhile reached Shirou to see him moving from vantage points, shooting Berserker with swords shaped into arrows with the Servant shrugging off all of them and simply leaping towards where the shots came from to crush the Magus.

Shirou suddenly landed in front of her and grabbed her around the waist before leaping to another vantage point, this time a nearby roof.

"What are you doing here?" Shirou demanded and Rin noticed he had changed, having grown taller and he seemed to be gaining muscle rapidly, the more he fought building up more and more." I thought you were at the house?"

"Berserker, find them." Berserker's Master ordered and the Servant roared before leaping into the air and Shirou swiftly formed the same spiraling sword he had changed into an arrow to threaten Saber with but this time turned it into a spear he threw forward that slammed into Berserker and moments later he had tackled Rin off the rooftops with a explosion lighting up the sky like a midnight sun.

He formed his bow once again and this time turned it on Berserker's Master and moments later a thin dagger shaped into an arrow with a blunt tip slammed into her stomach and she collapsed to the ground with Shirou grabbing her and dragging her to her feet before turning to the landing Berserker as a short sword formed in one hand and he held it to her throat.

"Alright big guy, you decide to take another step or even think about attacking me and I kill her." Shirou spoke after he saw Berserker freeze.

The Servant roared at him and Shirou thought about getting eyes in the back of his head, his head was on the chopping block from now on as long as the musclebound beast lived, actually the correct term was anchored to this world.

"Shirou, get back!" Rin ordered and Shirou kept the short sword pressed to Berserker's Master's throat even as he stepped back.

'You may want to finish the plan now.' The voice in his head spoke as the short sword changed into an already loaded bow in the blink of an eye.

'Asshole.' Shirou shot back, still angry that, from what he could guess the Archer Servant that somehow got trapped in his head, took control of his body and made him take the girl hostage.

One of his legs lashed out and forced her down to the ground as he hit the back of her knees with the inside of his foot and he fired the arrow, it slamming into Berserker an instant later and another explosion engulfing him.

'Wait, we were supposed to use a different weapon.' The voice spoke, laughing as Shirou's eye twitched as an enraged Berserker charged through the explosion, unfazed by it.' Yeah, he's pissed now.'

'ASSHOLE!' Shirou roared in his mind as he formed a handful of short knives in his free hand and they lengthened into arrows in a flash of light and he fired them, overloading them with energy to turn them into explosives.

Berserker roared before one struck him in the chest and the other two hit his shoulders but he simply charged through the explosions.

"Oh come on!" Shirou shouted into the air as he turned to Berserker with his bow transforming into a claymore which he simply flung at Berserker, the sword shattering on the Servant's raised arm through." What does it take to bring you down?"

His only response was a roar and Berserker's axe sword crashing down where he was if he didn't leap into the air and land on Berserker's shoulder, a modified crossbow forming in each hand and half a dozen bolts filled each.

"Alright, this should end you big guy." Shirou told Berserker as he pulled the triggers and pushed off of Berserker, the energy filled bolts exploding on impact with the shockwave from the explosions propelling him higher.

"Yes, I killed him!" Shirou shouted in triumph even as he began falling back down to the ground.

'That's not exactly right since he's got about ten more lives.' The voice spoke and Shirou hit the ground, hard.

On his head.

'What are you talking about?' Shirou demanded as he climbed back to his feet and all he heard was a roar before Berserker's fist slammed into him, the giant Servant's fist actually as big or bigger than his entire torso, and he was sent flying back, forming a trench across the ground and he only thing that sopped him was the mound of dirt his slide across the ground had formed behind him.

It didn't do much except cushion the impact of his head snapping back when his body finally stopped and for a while Shirou was motionless before slowly sitting up, wincing as he did so but found his body healing the same it did with the knife wound, very small blades knitting him back together before turning into harder than average flesh.

"Ow."

"That's all you can say?" Berserker's Master asked as Shirou turned to see her next to him, a smile that would look innocent in any other situation except for one like this so for Shirou it looked sadistic and borderline psychotic.

"Yeah." Shirou answered with a shrug, wincing at the pain and surprised he didn't cry out as the pain momentarily turned his vision a stark white.

He dragged his arms up and quickly made to call a new sword to his hand but this time the Archer Servant somehow stuck in his head decided to manifest the weapons, ignoring Shirou's desire for a single durable sword to fight Berserker's axe sword better.

A white curved short sword with a black isosceles triangle emerging from the hilt going about a third of the way up the blade that was also surrounding the Yin Yang symbol appeared in his left hand with a black curved short sword with a white isosceles triangle emerging from the hilt that reached up around the third of the blade while also surrounding a Yin Yang symbol appeared in his right with both swords having a dark brown hilt wrapped in black.

'These are the twin swords Kanshou and Bakuya, blades I have come to treasure.' The voice spoke with fondness before his voice turned threatening.' You break them and I promise that I will find a way to kill you, slowly.'

Shirou slowly nodded as he held the blades at his side.

'Now follow my words exactly.' The voice ordered and Shirou found himself once again nodding at the voice's words.

"I am the bone of my sword."

"What is that, a chant to save you?" Berserker's Master asked while Shirou ignored them, following what the voice said.

"Steel is my body and fire is my blood."

He threw the two swords forward which were easily knocked into the air by a single swing from Berserker's own massive axe sword before a second pair appeared in his hands and he rushed forward before flipping over Berserker as he swung to swipe him in half with his axe sword and stabbed Kanshou into Berserker's back before slicing his arm with Bakuya and a use of Reinforcement to his body gave him enough speed to dodge the other Bakuya as it was attracted to the Kanshou stabbed into Berserker and the thrown blade slammed into Berserker's back, joining the Kanshou there before the Kanshou attractedto the Bakuya in his hands flew into his open one.

Berserker simply roared as he raced forward again, ignoring the pain in his back as blood dripped to the ground from it.

"I have created over a thousand blades."

Kanshou and Bakuya, both pairs, changed into spears and the two impaled in his back had the tips slam through Berserker, the now blood covered tips sticking out of his chest as Shirou threw the other two forward, slamming into Berserker's hands and pinning them to the ground as yet another pair appeared in his hand, the two lengthening to double their size and gained feather-like splinters that covered the curved inside of the blades.

"Time to die." Shirou spoke as the blades changed once again, the hilts becoming more like handles and the feather-like splinters growing to cover more the blade as they widened, very soon taking on an appearance similar to Berserker's axe sword but they seemed more refined and majestic than Berserker's own weapon.

Berserker roared as he shattered the transformed blades holding his arms back and charged forward only for Shirou to concentrate and moments later the pair of blades still lodged into his chest changed into a pair of barbed Chakram that tore out of Berserker and shot towards Shirou, changing into spheres of light that shot into him as he used Reinforcement on his body, moving as a streak towards Berserker.

"Nine Lives."

What happened next was impossible to properly explain but the results were that it took out nine of Beserker's ten remaining lives, two taken from Shirou's two previous strong attacks which were the explosive arrows and then blowing off Berserker's head with Shirou covered in Berserker's black blood and collapsing even as he flung the two transformed blades straight at Berserker.

The unconscious Shirou should have hit the ground and died in the resulting explosion that consumed the behemoth of a Servant once the two blades spun in the air and slashed down at his shoulders if he wasn't picked up just as they did so.

'Damn, he's still alive even after a suicidal attack like that! What will kill him?'

Rin saw the explosion engulf Berserker from her shelter behind a nearby building and sighed in relief when she saw Saber save him, her armor strong enough to protect her from any backlash.

But she wondered if she should use a Command Spell and leave him there.

She could always break the codes the journals were written in herself, had actually partly done so for two of the, an inference on her end, ten codes used in them already, and looking at what he could do, what he just did to a Servant like Berserker, made her change her opinion on him.

He was once just someone to help her win the Grail War, someone powerful but not a threat to her even if Saber wasn't able to fight but now, now he had just beaten Berserker…

A roar from within the smoke threw it away and Berserker roared again as he slammed his axe sword into the ground, rocking the entire area around him with a massive tremor as his body released steam as all his wounds healed.

…Okay, he nearly beat Berserker but he had done it without a Servant and survived one of his blows and attacking him with something powerful not even a minute afterwards. It didn't help that one day over the past few days she had drugged his food to put him in a deep sleep, once he went to sleep of course, she wasn't an amateur, and had looked over almost his entire body for a Command Spell but couldn't find one.

It was embarrassing to fail and then have to redress him but she figured he would find something off if he woke up nearly naked.

"Master, I have him." Saber spoke as she walked up to Rin with Shirou thrown over her shoulder." I believe it is wise to depart before Berserker seeks to finish him off."

"That won't matter, he's wounded, something he'll heal from in time but he's a big target right now so his Master will probably retreat." Rin spoke and moments later Berserker crouched down and his Master set on his shoulder and Rin's eyes narrowed.

"Of course it's Illyasviel von Einzbern, the Einzbern would of course summon a Berserker for the Grail War." Rin commented as she walked back to Shirou's house, Saber walking slightly behind her with the unconscious Sword Magus over her shoulder.

"Saber, I want you to spar with Shirou over the next few days and report to me where you think his power is at." Rin ordered her Servant after a moment and received a nod." And one more thing, if you deem him a threat during those days, I'm giving you the freedom to fight to kill him in any of the spars you have."

Rin walked ahead as Saber nearly stopped in shock before nodding her head.

"Yes Master." Saber spoke after a moment and quickly caught up with Rin.

On the rooftops nearby a crouched Lancer observed them and once again cursed his Master.

'I'm stuck doing this stupid reconnaissance for that bastard when he's doesn't even want to win this thing, why can't he even try to win it through and why can't I fight anybody here?' Lancer thought in some annoyance before standing up and stretching a bit before grabbing the camera his Master forced him to bring along.

'Only one more Command Seal left, one more and then I'm free to kill him.'

This was the only thing keeping Lancer from snapping, the very nice thought of being able to kill the Magus forcing him to abandon his fights, forced to run from them every time and his abilities nearly always handicapped. He could only ever fight to kill on his second encounter with the same opponent and the second Command Spell made it he couldn't engage the same opponent a second time without his Master's approval or it was a life or death situation.

"I'll kill that bastard if it's the last thing I do." Lancer swore to himself as he left, needing to deliver the video of Shirou's fight with Berserker to his Master.

After the massive usage of Od during his fight against Berserker and then the repairs he had forced himself to help complete, Shirou was out for a while and when he work up with his energy restored he sealed himself in his work shed.

"Saber, do you think you could kick down the door?" Rin asked her currently training Servant, Shirou having been sealed inside for three days.

"There's no need for that."

Shirou closed the door behind him and Rin merely motioned to Saber.

"Shirou, do you think you could spar with Saber over the next few days?" Rin asked and saw Shirou frown but continued speaking before he could speak up." Just encase you encounter Berserker again it would be a good idea to have teamwork this time around and the best way to building that up is by learning the fighting style the other uses by sparring against them."

Shirou was suspicious at Rin's idea but slowly nodded, feeling she wouldn't stop until he agreed.

'You're right, she would have kept asking you before just deciding on sending Saber to attack you.' Archer spoke, Archer being the name the voice in his head told him he would prefer to be known by a few days ago.

Shirou shifted his stance slightly and moved one arm around in front of him, a golden hilted silver rapier appearing in his hands as Saber drew her sword from her side.

'I'm surprised you're using one sword.' Archer commented as Shirou charged forward, using Reinforcement to enhance his body and thrusting forward even as he moved his free hand up and a halberd appeared in it and he let his arm swing down from the sudden weight.

Saber would have been a poor warrior if she couldn't dodge the very simple blow, the rapier and the axe were coming down on each other even so she took a step back just as Shirou changed the rapier into a bow and notched the transformed halberd to his bow, turning it into an arrow as he did so. But even with the surprise move Saber knocked the arrow into the air when it was fired and Shirou very quickly formed a handful of small knives in his hands before flinging them forward and instead of blocking them like she normally would have her instincts screaming at her to dodge them made her do so, avoiding the explosions aimed to remove her sword from her hand.

"You're good." Shirou spoke up before a spear appeared in each had and he raced forward.

Saber narrowed her eyes as she sidestepped one spear aimed to pierce her shoulder before grabbing the other in her free hand and cleaving both in two with a single downward slash of her sword.

'What are you planning?' Saber thought to herself as she dodged the hail of knives turned into swords from Shirou.' You fought better against Berserker, much better.'

Saber decided to leave the field of destroyed or deflected weapons she found herself moments before Shirou snapped his fingers, remotely overcharging the already close to unstable weapons and detonating them.

"Damn." Shirou cursed as he formed his bow and flipped backwards to avoid Saber's downward slash, trying to remove one of his arms or to split him in two.

"You're better than I expected." Saber commented before rushing forward and dodging the handful of knives turned into arrows Shirou fired at her." But you're wasting movement, trying to show off like that, your little flip was unnecessary and wasted movement and energy. In short, you are an amateur at best and a show off at worst."

"Am I?" Shirou asked.

"Yes." Saber stated before she put on a burst of speed, her blade arcing up.

Shirou stepped back as he moved one hand to the blood leaking from the cut on his forehead just above his eye.

'She tried to take out my eye, I was lucky I stepped back to fire or I would be half blind.' Shirou thought and Archer was silent, usually either insulting him at this point or insulting him while giving advice.

'Looks like this fight is done, his battle with Berserker was a fluke after all. Illyasviel probably just underestimated him and didn't give Berserker enough orders that fight.' Rin thought as she was about to order Saber to stop when Shirou crossed his arms over his chest, his empty hands open and palms facing up into the air.

"I am the bone of my sword."

The pair of swords known as Kanshou and Bakuya appeared above his palms and his hands very quickly wrapped around their hilts.

'Those are the same swords he used to bring down Berserker, I have to keep my guard up or I'll be dead very quickly.' Saber thought even as Shirou shot forward, the two blade moving in an downward X that Saber thought not to block or parry so she instead stepped back to avoid them and then lunge forward when Shirou hit the ground only for the Magus to roll to the side to avoid it.

"You're smart." Shirou commented before he took several quick steps back, increasing the distance between him and Saber.

Saber quickly readied herself for another attack and was right to do so as Shirou threw both pairs towards her, something she sent spinning high into the air, before another set appeared in his hands and both quickly changed into twin broadswords that he charged forward with, sending wild slashed at Saber that forced her to actually let her guard drop, at least slightly the rigidness of it nearly allowed Shirou to cut her several times. This lax guard seemed to be what Shirou was looking for as he slashed with both swords with an upwards X, knocking Saber's sword to the side before tossing the two swords into the air and catching the first pair, the pair Saber had deflected into the air.

"Steel is my body and fire is my blood."

'Damn, even I forgot about those two.' Rin thought as she saw Saber's eyes widen in shock.

Shirou changed the two swords into black and white spears that shot towards Saber who parried them both before the two longswords Shirou had tossed into the air landed behind her, stopping her from backing away from the two blows that came too quick as Shirou caught the spears and changed into their normal and moved too fast for her to move her sword in time to block them. The swords shifted into a second pair of longswords that Shirou tossed into the air and a pair of spears appeared in his hands to replace them, this pair of Kanshou and Bakuya already transformed.

'He's so fast.' Saber thought even as she released Invisible Air, timing it just right to toss Shirou across the backyard and then activate it once again only for the Magus to stop himself with the two spears and they quickly shifted again, turning into a pair of katana that Shirou charged forward with, the lethally sharp blades moving towards Saber who readied herself to parry the blades, not the maces the two blades shifted into.

Her sword rocked and nearly slipped out her hands but it didn't matter as the two longswords Shirou had tossed into the air descended behind her Shirou held the two maces in front of him as they shifted into their original curved short sword form.

"I have created over a thousand blades."

He threw the black sword named Kanshou forward while the white one named Bakuya was consumed in a flash of light before lengthening itself into a jian while keeping its hilt and design. With a glance and pointed fingers from Shirou, Kanshou changed into a Chakram with the outside covered in barbs.

Saber blocked the changed weapon and was about to stop Shirou in his tracks when the deflected Kanshou changed to mirror Bakuya in the air as it landed in Shirou's grip.

"Unknown to Death, Nor known to Life."

Shirou blocked her sword as she aimed to cut open his chest before grinning as he pushed with both swords and sent Saber leaping back slightly with Shirou following her.

'He's unrelenting as well.' Saber thought as she parried one of his blows, Kanshou, with Bakuya immediately lunging forward and aiming to put a hole through her shoulder if Saber didn't sidestep it and then step forward with a lunge that swiftly turned into an upward two-handed slash as Shirou flipped over her, letting the two jian go and flipping them into the air as a bow formed in his hands.

He formed a rapier into a long thin arrow that launched forward and Saber dodged it as Shirou's bow turned into a longbow as he flipped into the air and fired another arrow upside down, another transformed rapier that Saber knocked into the air, able to spot them after the first one. Shirou landed on the ground a distance from her that the Servant easily closed only to see him shift his longbow into two crossbows and fired a dozen knives loaded into each, forcing Saber to rapidly block two dozen massive arrows moments later.

'She's incredible, I used the same stuff on Berserker and he shrugged them off but couldn't block them, she did.' Shirou thought even as his crossbows shifted into a pair of twin rapiers that Shiro lunged forward with, the thin blades made for thrusting instantly shattered by a downward stroke by Saber who then immediately leapt back.

Her high Luck was the only thing that saved her from death as each piece then exploded as Shirou threw the worthless hilts towards her, something she knocked aside and was lucky as Shirou expected her to dodge so quickly through several handfuls of explosive knives all around her but even if all of them missed he still covered Saber in a dust cloud and he quickly used Reinforcement on his body and vanished for now.

'She's not really fighting, not at all really.' Shirou thought and a heavy use of Reinforcement later he clapped his hands together and with a grin on his face and a flash of light several dozen swords floated around him and he quickly overcharged them with energy.

'You do know that will kill her if it hits, correct?' Archer asked and Shirou merely grinned as he spotted Saber rush out of the smoke.

'She won't be hit.' Shirou answered even as he formed two silver longswords in his hands and rushed after the swords, seeing that Saber dodged them at the last moment so he attacked then, his two blades meeting Saber's own invisible one.

The two swords in his hands shattered in a flash of light and blinded Saber as Shirou held his hands up and the Kanshou and Bakuya pair transformed into longswords and stabbed into the ground flew in an arc over Saber and into Shirou's hands.

They instantly changed into a sword twice the length of their normal form with feather-like splinters covering the inside.

"So, feel like going for round two?" Shirou asked with a grin even if he was panting.

"If you believe you can survive." Saber answered as she prepared to release Excalibur for a single moment and single attack and Rin decided to step inside at that point and quickly used Reinforcement on the entire wall in front of her.

'Those two are going to kill me just from sparring!' Rin thought in a panic even as the walls threatened to collapse on her if she didn't use another Reinforcement to help it weather the surge of energy slamming against it.

The resulting clash from outside still destroyed the wall and Rin was thrown back as Saber frowned before pulling back as Shirou's swords crumbled to dust the moment they both struck Excalibur.

She vanished from Shirou's sight as the Magus stepped back and stared at his hands in shock.

"How did that happen?" Shirou asked as the last of the sword broke into light." I was sure I had it nearly perfect."

'I did it you moron.' Archer spoke up.

'Why?' Shirou demanded and to the watching Saber it looked like he was arguing with himself, at least from the way his head was moving from side to side.

'That was Excalibur, it would have killed you no matter what you did with the amount of energy Saber put in it, you're lucky I timed the break down before your swords fully met.' Archer informed the unbelieving Shirou.

'Then tell me why I heard the swords strike, even when the light of her releasing her sword blinded me I could still hear perfectly.' Shirou nearly growled back and Archer was silent for a long moment before speaking again, losing his usually lightheartedness.

'If you want the truth then you'll get it when this all draws to its end, not before that you little brat.' Archer spoke in a rare anger before going entirely silent and Shirou crouched slightly before he seemingly vanished, a small cloud of dust floating where his feet were.

Saber spotted him sitting down on the roof but didn't follow him, instead going to her Master.

"Master." Saber called out as she stepped inside." Master."

Shirou laid down on the roof, looking up to the moon in deep thought with the normally talkative Archer remaining silent.

"The moon's full."

Besides those words Shirou sat there in silence, remembering things he liked to do with his adopted father, stargazing one of the last things they did together.

'The old man passed away up here, just like he wanted to.' Shirou thought with a small grin, the last few peaceful moments he shared with his old man before he died always bringing a smile to his face.

It always hurt a little through, once he learned that his old man died from a curse he had a very special goal for whenever the next Holy Grail War came up, even if the Grail didn't choose him as a Master he would come to Fuyuki from wherever he was and finish it.

'Maybe there's hope for you kid.' Archer's sudden words had Shirou shoot up in surprise before letting his grin return.

'So, finally deciding to talk again?' Shirou asked.

'Someone's got to keep you from doing something stupid, since I'm stuck in your head I figured I'll do it, you can praise me later.' Archer answered and Shirou chuckled.

'You bastard.'

'Says the guy who does flips in a fight?'

'I got it from the merge with you so who's to blame here?'

'I'm going to sleep.'

Shirou chuckled again at Archer's silent and his victory in the argument.

'Point for me.' Shirou thought before turning to look up at the sky again, looking for constellations and remembering the stories the old man told him about them.

Inside the house Saber found Rin after a minute or two of searching.

"Master, are you inside?" Saber asked as she looked into the living room, having worked her way to the front of the house from the back

"Yes Saber?"

The Servant glanced over to the couch to see her Master sitting there and watching something Shirou had recorded, it seemed to be something on a variety of swords.

"I have finished my spar with Shirou Emiya as you have ordered and have gathered the information you have asked for." Saber spoke up and Rin immediately paused whatever she was watching and turned towards her.

"Well, what do you know?" Rin asked and Saber thought over the battle a moment before answering.

"If I were to face Emiya in combat than I would not know which outcome the fight would have." Saber spoke after reviewing both her battle and what she had been able to glimpse of his battle against Berserker and Rin suddenly found herself glad at Shirou's lack of a Servant and participation in the Holy Grail War.

"Why through? You've explained to me all of your abilities and your battle experience, it would seem that you would have an easy victory against someone like him even I could beat him myself under the right conditions. I mean he's not even at the level his adopted father had at the same time during the Fourth Holy Grail War." Rin told her Servant after a moment and Saber rose an eyebrow at that.

"But his father was able to kill those high above his own level of power, could the same not be said for someone he had taught?" Saber asked and Rin shook her head.

"After his father's participation in a Holy Grail War the Tohsaka family had this place bugged once we realized he was staying here permanently and adopted a potential Magus so we've had people watching the footage a little bit past his death some years ago, Kiritsuga Emiya never taught Shirou anything of his personal tactics and from what we gathered he taught him to an intermediate level in the basics before allowing him to continue his own training alone with his assistance when it was needed." Rin answered with a relieved sigh." If he had been taught anything like what Kiritsuga knew he would have been killed long before this war. The danger he would have posed would have united the three families in killing him but from how he is now I can create several plans to kill him if the need arises."

"Then do you require anything else?" Saber asked and Rin pointed to a stack of journals nearby.

"Shirou recorded everything he did in those journals and since they work on the same code as the others I've cracked them some time ago and I'm reading those now. I'm learning everything about him and the idiot doesn't even realize it." Rin said the last part with a laugh and Saber frowned.

"Master, are you alright?" Saber asked and Rin nodded as she calmed down.

"Of course I am, why wouldn't I be?" Rin asked.

"You're laughing at a severe threat, you saw what he did to Berserker yet you play him off as an idle threat?" Saber asked and Rin frowned." You do realize he can kill you, correct?"

"How?" Rin asked, very confused at Saber's question when she had just told her she could kill or bring about Shirou death in a dozen different ways.

"From what I gathered during our battle and his battle against Berserker he can create weapons out of thin air and without effort, even make them explosive and shift a knife into a spear or change a sword into an arrow. His combat style is highly adaptable because of that and from what I could see during both battles with him being able to engage stronger opponents once weakening them and from personal experience he can strike with surprising power while utilizing his abilities to increase his already impressive combat skills." Saber spoke before she remembered the lines Shirou had spoken while he attacked her with the several transforming pairs of Kanshou and Bakuya.

'_I am the bone of my sword.'_

'_Steel is my body and fire is my blood.'_

'_I have created over a thousand blades.'_

'_Unknown to Death, Nor known to Life.'_

"He also seems to use a particular set of multiple pairs of swords to finish off his fights, chanting something while doing so and his power grew with each line, as well as lowering the amount of energy he needed to better use his weapons, his attacks in turn grew much stronger and rapid once he had spoken the fourth line of whatever it was." Saber continued and Rin frowned as she went through several plans in her head before scraping them all and settling on single conclusion.

"Then Shirou won't be surviving the Grail War, if what you say is true than in enough time he will grow much too powerful and with ties to Kiritsuga Emiya the Mage's Association would kill him if they heard what he could do, possibly during the Grail War. We'll have to keep this all between the three of us, just as much of a threat he is he's also an extremely powerful ally and we still have Berserker and from what I could sense four other Servants."

"Only four more, the Holy Grail War typically holds the minimum of seven, correct?" Saber asked and Rin nodded." Then why are there only six of us in total for this one?"

"I have no idea but the Grail works in mysterious ways. But even if there isn't an answer I'm planning on looking into it once this entire thing is over." Rin answered her Servant before standing from the couch." Now let's eat, I can fix us both something."

Even from where Shirou was on the rooftop he somehow knew when someone was going to fix a meal and moments later he slid in through the window.

'Stargazing will have to come later, I've got a meal to cook.' Shirou thought as he stopped Rin from coming into the kitchen and smiled.

"No worries Rin, Saber, I'll cook something for all of us while you two go relax." Shirou told both and with some hesitation Rin stepped back and a few minutes later Shirou came out with a platter of snacks held in each hand and placed them down on the table before moving back to the kitchen and in the next hour he moved an entire feast to the table.

"Why did you make so much food?" Rin asked as she could barely see to the end of the table with the high piles of food in front of her." We won't ea…"

Saber seemed to have a massive appetite as she began, for lack of a better word, inhaling the food on the table with Shirou only grinning as he placed another tray down next to Rin.

"My old man knew about Saber's appetite so I think this works better, enough food so she can eat her fill and we can too." Shirou told her before walking back into the kitchen.

Rin seriously questioned if Kiritsuga taught Shirou anything about the Grail War. He had the perfect opportunity to kill both her and Saber by either poisoning the food or attacking them both when they were so unprepared.

'No wonder he isn't involved in the Grail War even with all that power, he's too soft to be who his father was during the last one.' Rin thought to herself even as she dug into Shirou's delicious meal.' But he can cook.'

Inside the kitchen Shirou was polishing off the dishes but suddenly stopped, a memory that was definitely not his assaulting his mind, bringing him very sudden and large amounts of mental pain.

It looked to be the same scene he had just been drawn from but he wasn't the person who's perspective he was viewing it from.

Whoever it was heard the doorbell ring and with a small smile on their face set down the rag they were washing with and walked to the door, his smile widening at the doorbell ringing again and again the longer he took.

"Hey Rin." A voice he wouldn't forget for a while spoke, it was just that annoying to him.

'Archer.'

Archer sidestepped Rin's kick to his more private area and her immediate slap but not the bop to his head.

"Ow, why would you do that?" Archer asked with some annoyance only for the Head of the Tohsaka to walk inside.

"You're the one who invited me over, the least you could do is not be so late opening the door." Rin answered and Shirou noticed she had grown and from it he estimated maybe a decade had passed from his time.

"What do you mean late? I walked here from the kitchen." Archer told her and Rin merely bopped him on the head again and he fell back into a nearby chair, holding his head.

"Why are you so mean?" Archer asked as Rin walked past him.

"You should treat the Tohsaka Head with more respect, you should have ran to the door." Rin told him and Archer began chuckling before nearly falling out his chair as he went to full blown laughter.

"You're a real piece of work Rin, why am I planning on marrying you again?" Archer asked as he slipped a box from his sleeve into his hands and before Shirou could see the look on the memory-Rin's face the scene ended and he snapped back to the present, just in time to.

"Shirou, we need more food!" Rin called back to the kitchen." Saber's eating it all!"

Shirou glanced around the kitchen to find it unchanged and estimated that at most a few seconds had passed since he had experienced the memory.

"Alright, give me a minute!" Shirou shouted back as he picked up two more trays he had completed before he began cleaning the dishes and fell into the memory.

"Thank you." Saber paused long enough to thank him before beginning to eat again and Shirou fought to keep the smile on his face.

'How is she doing that, it's like she's not even chewing any of the food?' Shirou found himself asking even as he walked back to the kitchen, getting a nod from Rin he returned with his smile widening.

The moment he was inside the kitchen he used the counter to support himself as images flashed through his mind.

They seemed to be moving in a cycle and the one that seemed to repeat its self a hundred times a second and it was speeding up, bombarding Shirou with them.

One was of a single shadowed figure standing on the blackened and charred ground of a hill with what looked like an army against them.

Another was of birds, doves from the white feathers raining down around him, flying above the same figure.

Another of a golden light filling his vision, it blinding him the entire time it showed.

A fourth was simply the moon.

The last, the last was indescribable in whatever hell it came from.

As soon as it began it suddenly ended and Shirou found himself in a cold sweat, trying and failing to keep himself up on trembling arms and shaking legs so he quickly found himself collapsed to the floor in moments, wide eyed at the last image that seemed to stay in his mind.

'What was that?' Shirou asked himself, slowly managing to climb back to his feet after a few minutes of near failures.' What the hell was that.'

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><p>Well, that was...probably not good so leave a review on any questions or suggestions for the pairing.<p>

Peace.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I do not own Fate/stay night or anything associated with it with all belonging to their respective owners and I am in no way attempting to or making a profit in any way shape or form.

Okay with the disclaimer done this is a short note, I personally think this chapter is one of the worst I've ever written and the ending was probably obvious from how I wrote it and if it pisses you off then I do apologize for it but it has a point to the future of this story.

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><p>Shirou's sleep was not a very peaceful one as he constantly tossed and turned in his bed, the blankets having long since been kicked off when he grew too hot but now he was too cold.<p>

Outside his room Rin looked up when she heard the sound of something hitting the floor and shattering.

"Saber do you have any ideas on what's wrong with him?" the Tohsaka Master asked after a moment to only receive silence in response." Saber?"

A quick search of the bedroom they were sharing saw that her Servant was fast asleep and Rin merely sighed before getting up and going to find out what was wrong herself.

'Perhaps this is a delayed side effect of his fight with Berserker, but it's been a longtime since the fight so that's unlikely.'

The door wasn't even locked and Rin sighed at how trusting Shirou was even during the Grail War, he should know that alliances usually ended with one person dead or minus one Servant.

'I'm going to have to teach him how to act.'

The room she stepped into had little in the way of decorations, at least currently from the outlines she could see in the dim light in the room.

"Shirou, do you plan on making that noise all night?" Rin asked only to receive no response so she hit the light switch and stumbled out the room at the sight in front of her.

The room seemed to have turned into a desert of blackened sand with a haze filing it with swords filling her vision and she quickly closed the door with her shocked expression very quickly turning into one of heavy thinking.

'That was a Reality Marble and, from what it looked like to me, it's the source of Shirou's weapons and explains how he isn't breaking the rules of something like Alchemy and it explains how he can make so many without tiring, he's unconsciously using his Reality Marble to draw the swords and it that's so th…' Another crash from in the room snapped Rin out of her thoughts so she partly opened the door and looked inside to see Shirou scrabbling to his feet with the blades and desert gone.

'Weirdest dream ever.' Shirou thought as he glanced to the door, disregarding his dream as he noticed it was partially open.

"Rin, do you need something?" Shirou asked ad he heard a quiet curse behind the partly open door.

"No, you were just making a lot of noise so I came to check on you." Rin answered and Shirou paused for a moment before he remembered the odd dream once again.

"I wasn't having that great of a sleep." Shirou told her a moment later." Besides, this is the time I usually get up and Sakura should be coming over today, despite me giving her the month off, so I'll have to get things ready for her, she said she's going to be staying for a while."

"What?" Rin demanded as she wrenched open the door only to immediately close it." Why are you sleeping naked?"

"I have on boxers Rin, you're just overreacting." Shirou told her as he found a set of clothes in his closet and quickly threw them on." But you can come in now, I'm dressed."

"How did Berserker not kill you out of annoyance?" Rin asked and Shirou frowned at remembering the fight.

"Speaking of that giant bastard, do you have anything on whoever his Master is?" Shirou asked the Tohsaka Master who debated withholding information but decided against it.

'In the end I need his help to take down something like that so I can give him some information.' Rin assured herself before speaking.

"His Master is Illyasveil von Einzbern, representative of the Einzbern family in this war and from what I could gather her and Berserker are the biggest threat in the war." Rin answered him as she turned and walked out the door." Now come on, we have to plan an attack against her."

"Why, she can come to us and then I can kill her Servant, what is there to plan?" Shirou asked and Rin sighed.

"I did some research and it looks like you need to kill Berserker a total of twelve times and once you use something to kill it once, it won't work again." Rin answered and Shirou merely rose a brow as he went over the fight.

'You left him one life in the end.' Archer quickly spoke up for him.' Tell her that so she can send Saber out to kill it.'

"In the end I managed to get all but one of his lives, think Saber can finish the job?" Shirou asked and at Rin's questioning look he laughed a bit." I kind of used all of my best stuff in that fight and since the same thing won't work twice I'm out of luck in a fight with him."

"Really?" Rin asked and Shirou frowned before sighing.

"I'm going to have to fight him again, right?" Shirou asked and Rin merely laughed.

"Of course, I'll bring Saber along as backup just encase Berserker begins to kill you." Rin answered and turned away to leave when Shirou grabbed her shoulder and spun her around and she was surprised at the grim look on his face.

"That isn't an option, if Berserker somehow manages to do something like that to me when I send everything I have at him then you're going to have to run when I tell you." Shirou told Rin who merely laughed as she brushed his hands off her shoulders.

"You're no use to me dead so I think I'll be intervening in your fight, alright?" Rin told him and would have laughed as she walked away if she didn't see Shirou's face.

"I have a plan that will take him down, hopefully." Shirou told her before his blank face turned into a grinning one." But that's beside the point, how about I fix us some breakfast?"

Rin nodded even as she questioned Shirou's rapid shift in mood as he walked down the hall.

"Saber, did you sense that?" Rin asked as her Servant appeared next to her.

"I believe so, it was a darkness in him?" Saber asked and Rin nodded.

"Keep an eye on him when Illyasveil decides to attack again." Rin ordered after a moment before walking downstairs.

"This kid, he's far more troublesome than I originally thought." A white haired figure commented, sitting on a dune of blackened sand, idly spinning a knife in one of his hands before flinging it into a gear floating above him, his once grinning face now marred with a frown." He's a bigger hassle than I thought, but at this point it's too late to break the merging."

A glance to the horizon showed him a twilight slowly spreading and consuming what was his world, at least until the Grail War ended and he was called back.

"This is very quickly getting annoying but I suppose it's better than the alternative."

Away from wherever the figure was trapped Shirou had finished a large breakfast and frowned.

"I'm going to have to go get more food in a couple of days, making these meals is going to cost me a lot of money." Shirou muttered to himself before turning to the window and he sighed.

'I also need to figure out that dream.'

He still didn't know if he should call it a nightmare or a dream but it was still disturbing, there was so much fire around him, so much blood that it hurt remembering it, not to mention the emotions he felt the entire time he was forced to look at the scene. The overwhelming guilt and anger as he was forced to watch the fire would have drove anyone else insane.

The doorbell ringing snapped him out of his thoughts and he was lucky he reached the door before Rin.

'This should be Sakura.' Shirou thought and he was half right.

Sakura Matou was at the door, along with her so called brother Shinji Matou, the bastard Shirou hated with every fiber of his being, and someone he didn't know and probably wasn't supposed to see.

'She's a Servant and a Rider-class one.' Archer supplied for him and Shirou grinned at Sakura before turning to Shinji and dragging him inside and throwing him to the floor before turning back to Sakura.

"Sakura, could you give me a minute alone with your brother please? Breakfast is on the table if you'll like some." Shirou told Sakura who nodded and he saw the Servant hesitate as she walked in and watched the nice purple haired girl leave the room.

After a moment she stepped to the side of the room and Shirou simply ignored her odd behavior before locking the door and turning his attention back to Shinji.

"Hey Orphan." Shinji would have met a boot to his face if Rider didn't grab his raised foot and pull it backwards, sending him falling forward if he hadn't caught himself and rolled back to his feet.

"I've got a little surprise for you today." Shinji told Shirou as he picked himself up form off the floor." Rider, show yourself."

With a roll of her concealed eyes the Servant seemingly appeared to Shirou's sight.

"I'm going to kill you with her." Shinji told Shirou with an arrogant smirk on his face, a smirk that made Shirou want to punch him.

"You're still not smart Dumbass." Shirou told Shinji, using what soon became Shinji's name whenever Shirou saw him." I saw her the moment I opened the door but got anything else?"

Shinji took a step back at that and Shirou grinned as he held his hands out to his side.

"Well, if you don't have anything I'll show you something I've been dying to." Shirou told him with his grin widening as red light appeared in his hands and a pair of silver longswords appeared in his hands.

He didn't give Shinji anytime to even begin to understand what was happening as he rushed forward and moments later Shinji's legs were pinned to the floor, the blades stabbed down to the hilts.

"Rider, kill him!" Shinji ordered even as his body rocked with agony and Shirou avoided the nail like dagger attached to a chain thrown at him.

Rider seemed to be putting little effort into fighting and Shirou noticed this before in a flash of light a pair of rope darts with the rope replaced by much stronger chains and moments later the Servant found herself bound in the chains of the two weapons.

She didn't really care through, even now her attention was where Sakura had gone.

"What the hell are you doing?" Shinji demanded and Shirou moved faster than the Matou thought possible and his boot slammed into his chest, audible cracks resounding around the room.

"Shut. Up." Shirou growled the two words before ripping his two weapons free from Shinji's legs and covering his screams with a nearby pillow.

Shirou very quickly threw Shinji into a nearby closet as he heard Sakura calling him from the kitchen and a glance to Rider and the chains vanished in a flash of red light with the Servant gone nearly as fast as they were.

'Did you really just stuff him in the closet?' Archer asked after a few seconds had passed.

'What else was I supposed to do?' Shirou asked as he checked his appearance in the mirror before nodding to himself and walking into the kitchen a grin on his face.

Rin remained upstairs while Shirou did whatever he and Sakura did together while they were together and began reading over one of Shirou's journal, taken from his room a while ago when he was asleep.

It was more recent than any other so far and she came across something interesting and possibly useful later on in the Grail War.

"_The Summoning turned out to be a bad idea, I ended up with a voice in my head who, from what he would tell me, a Servant I somehow managed to merge with. The details on the how are still unknown but the results are very clear. Ever since the merging I've been able to do things I couldn't do before and what I could do before has increased to incredible levels. I'm still looking through the old man's journals on anything like this happening before but so far I've got nothing and it'll probably stay that way. But that's not the thing bothering me the most, not even that messed up Summoning is the biggest thing, or even that sarcastic bastard Archer. I feel a connection to something and it's worrying me because half the time I sense it I feel like it's screaming at me to do something but I don't know want. It's probably because the merge with Archer somehow made me at least partly a Servant…_"

Rin stopped reading at that point with a plan developing, a plan that would either get her a second Servant or it would backfire and either take away Shirou's powers or kill him.

Both things were worth it, if she gained another Servant than she had a better chance of winning the Grail War and if Shirou ended up dying then it was less of a problem after the war on what to do with him.

Just like the Magus justified ordering Saber to kill him in a spar she justified her plan, it was necessary to win the Grail War and she was trained nearly all her life to win it.

Once Saber had returned from her watch and with a nod towards the two Shirou finished the dishes and took his own shift, bringing Sakura up with him, Rin decided to begin the first stages of her plan.

"Saber, I need your assistance with something." Rin told her Servant after the two had eaten their fill." Do you think you could help me?"

"What is it you request?" Saber asked after a moment and Rin held back her grin, carefully keeping her face blank.

"Ever since the attack I've been thinking we need to add a barrier around the house and since you have a higher power level than me I thought you could charge the seals I use since it would not only make it all faster but make the barrier the seals create stronger." Rin received a now from her Servant who stood up and followed after her as she walked outside.

From the roof Shirou stood watch with his arms crossed over his chest and his eyes closed, using this as a training exercise instead of taking it very seriously.

'So far we've met only Berserker and Lancer, meaning there's still three more Masters with three more Servants out there. It's going to be extremely annoying to wait for them to make their moves but it'll be worth it, once they do that then we can attack them when they're unprepared.'

'So you are intelligent, who would have guessed with you actually fighting Berserker?' Archer asked from in his head and Shirou frowned.

'Well look who decided to bug me today, the voice in my head.'

'The name's Archer you brat.'

'A bastard is more like it.'

'Brat.'

'Bastard.'

'Brat!'

'Bastard!'

The watching Sakura looked on in some confusion as Shirou had an argument with himself.

'Perhaps the stress of the Grail War is getting to him.' Sakura thought as she took several steps back.' But just encase he's gone insane I think it's best to have an easy escape route.'

"Hey Sakura, would you be upset if something was to happen to your brother?" Shirou's sudden question had Sakura silent for a moment before she answered.

"I would like him to be nicer to me but I wouldn't like the thought of violence, even if he deserves it eventually he would forget about it and it would just begin again." Sakura answered and both Shirou and Archer frowned.

'This isn't good, she's lost hope.' Archer commented and Shirou simply spoke again.

"When I said something happening to him I didn't mean hurting him." Shirou told Sakura who looked confused for a moment before he continued, his face grim." I mean killing him."

"What?" Sakura asked in shock." Why?"

"Because the sick bastard deserves it for what he does to you." Shirou told her as he turned to face her, his anger visible on his face even at the unnatural calm in his voice." Why can't you see how wrong the things he does to you are?"

"In the end it's pointless for me to fight back, Zouken will simply destroy any hope I have like he's done before if I ever do." Sakura answered after a moment of silence passed between the two." And if he did that now I would have nothing to live for so to protect them I will endure."

Shirou looked at her shocked for a moment before uncrossing his arms and his bow appeared in his hands with a spiral tipped arrow appearing in his hands, not facing Sakura.

"Show me." Shirou ordered, his eyes like the steel of the blades he wound summon.

"What?" Sakura asked, completely confused at Shirou's change in demeanor and his actions.

"Show me where the bastard is." Shirou answered, turning eyes suddenly burning with rage towards her." Show me so I can kill him for doing this to you!"

"Shirou, if I did show you that then he would kill you and then I'll die." Sakura answered after a moment and Shirou's eyes only grew angrier.

"How much is he hurting you?" Shirou asked, his bow dropping as he became deathly calm, a calm where you anger has exceeded all limits.

"Shirou…" Sakura began before being interrupted.

"How much?" Shirou asked, his calm nearly terrifying Sakura before she drew up the will to answer.

"He doesn't hurt me himself, it was part of my training to endure torture in order to increase my power as part of the Matou family." Sakura answered after a moment and Shirou's eyes seemed to turn to stone before he raised and loaded his bow once again.

"Sakura, you may want to step back, this will probably throw me off the roof." Shirou told her as the arrow began spinning by itself, disrupting the air around it as it picked up speed as Shirou very quickly turned it explosive with a surge of unstable energy to it, a trick from Archer he was beginning to enjoy very much.

'You do realize this will wipe out that entire building if you decide to hit it, right?' Archer asked and Shirou mentally nodded, keeping his eyes locked on his target.' And you do realize you'll be left with very little energy for the next hour, correct?'

Shirou nodded again and the Servant inside his mind sighed as he sensed Shirou was set on blowing up the entire Matou house.

'This will come back to bite you so don't say I didn't warn you.' Archer told him before falling silent.

After finishing placing the seals around the house and having Saber charge them up Rin sensed the built up energy of Shirou's arrow and very quickly turned to her Servant.

"Saber, stop him before he does something stupid!" Rin ordered and Saber nodded before rushing out the house and after a moment she rushed up the side of it, moving at her top speed to stop Shirou from firing.

She was nearly too late but Archer had decided to intervene so against his better judgment on the matter he momentarily took over Shirou's body, just for a moment was really all Saber needed to reach him and take the arrow from the bow. The bow dismissed itself moments later as Shirou with a thought dismissed the unstable arrow, not really wanting to rebuild his entire house if he could help it.

"Are you an idiot Shirou?" Rin demanded after reaching the roof." Do you want to get us all killed?"

"I was planning on killing anyone currently in the Matou household but I guess beating Shinji will help this one." Shirou commented before noticing the active seals beginning to surround his house in a barrier." And good job on the barrier, it looks sturdy enough to keep this place standing."

With a nod to all three Shirou dropped from the rooftop but as he fell he noticed Lancer watching from nearby, a camera set up next to him.

The red spear in the Servant's hand was risen up in a greeting and Shirou found himself assaulted by another memory, awkwardly hitting the ground a second later but his mind had wandered far enough that the pain didn't do anything.

A figure Shirou guessed was Archer, the Magus guessing those were the memories he was experiencing, had a broadsword in hand as he stepped out of what was the Tohsaka mansion.

"Lancer." Archer spoke and said Servant walked to stand in front of him, his spear raised in greeting.

"Archer." Lancer spoke right before he shot forward, the red spear in his hands blocked by the flat edge of the broadsword even if it was then instantly shattered.

Archer through had leapt away before forming a pair of red hilted scimitars with gold inlaid in the blade in his hands and rushing forward, both blades sweeping in from the side to attack Lancer only to be knocked away as Lancer swung the spear in a wide arc, the force behind the move shattering the two blades on contact and so Archer threw the worthless hilts towards Lancer only for the Servant to spin his spear in front of him, tossing the hilts away.

"I am the bone of my sword." Archer whispered as another pair of weapons appeared in his hands, this time the silver longswords Shirou found himself commonly summoning to fight.

The words seemed to strengthen the weapons as when Lancer's spear shot forward the Servant managed to block the attack, barely but a block was a block.

"Nice." Lancer commented as he leapt back." I was starting to think you were weak."

Archer chuckled at that before holding the longswords out to his side.

"Steel is my body and fire is my blood." Archer whispered those words next and in a flash of red light he now held two crossbows nearly as wide as him and up to his waist.

Lancer was surprised when Archer lifted the two weapons effortlessly and fired a dozen bolts from each and seemingly with ease Lancer avoided them only for the projectiles to detonate on impact with the ground.

Lancer was lucky both of his feet were firmly on the ground as he could instantly leap out the range of the blast even if this was what Archer wanted, appearing in front of him with one hand held out to his side.

"Trace on." Archer whispered and moments later Lancer was clashing with an identical version of his own weapon.

"Well, this is interesting." Lancer commented before his face was covered in a grimace as he landed on the ground." And this damn thing decides to interfere once it gets to the good part."

With another wave of his spear, seemingly acting as a goodbye, Lancer vanished with a burst of speed that surprised Archer even as the memory faded and Shirou noticed the lack of pain from his fall.

"Shirou, are you dead?" Rin's voice called down to him from the rooftop and the Magus slowly rolled over from his stomach to his back, wincing as he pulled himself from the ground.

"No." Shirou called back up to her as he slowly made his way to his feet." Just in a lot of pain, no reason to come down and check on me after I hit the ground!"

Rin had the decency to at least look sheepish as one hand rubbed the back of her head.

"I didn't expect you to fall like that, if you couldn't do that you could have asked and Saber would have helped you down." Rin called down to him and Shirou muttered something under his breath before walking across the grass to his workshop.

"You're crazy." Shirou called back to her without turning around and Rin waited for him to reach a certain point, around the center of the backyard, before putting her plan into action.

A whispered chant later and a dozen seals that had nothing to do with the barrier sprung to life before energy raced from them and formed a circle around Shirou.

"Wh…" Shirou couldn't finish his words as an agonized scream from Archer ripped through his mind and he clutched at his head, collapsing to his knees as he heard it, the symbols of energy forming around him beginning to shrink and close in on him.

"What is going on?" Sakura asked Rin who decided against telling her and instead with a nod to Saber the girl found herself unconscious and if Rin had the time she would make sure she didn't remember a thing.

It would have gone perfectly if Rider hadn't appeared at the last second with the chain of her dagger wrapping around Saber's waist and pulling her back with little trouble.

"Master, are you alright?" Rider asked and Sakura glanced down at her hand to see Command Spells appearing.

"What happened to Shinji, why are these coming back?" Sakura asked as she turned to what was first her Servant, then Shinji's, and now once again her own.

"I will explain later, for now we must get you to safety." Rider answered before she grabbed Sakura and very quickly vanished from the rooftop but from what Rin could sense she was still in the barrier but she decided to pay it no mind as she now fully concentrated on completing her plan.

Below her Shirou was struggling to even remain conscious at the screams coming from Archer, the Servant very quickly consumed by agony.

The circle around him let out a flash of light and moments later Shirou collapsed forward and Rin glanced down at her unmarked hand, a tattoo like mark appearing on it very quickly as the circle below her collapsed in on itself moments later, leaving no trace it was even there.

"Master, shall I retrieve him?" Saber asked after a moment of silence passed on the rooftop and moments later Rin's blank face dropped into a frown.

"No, I want to try something." Rin answered before jumping off the roof and a quick use of Reinforcement had her landing safely in a crouch next to the collapsed Shirou.

The Tohsaka Magus rolled Shirou over to his back and looked him over to find no changes to him at all, there was really nothing to mark him as a Servant as she didn't even feel a new drain to her Prana.

"Did it not work?" Saber asked as she appeared next to Rin.

Moments later a hand shot up and wrapped around Rin's neck and Saber quickly moved to take it off for two fingers to be pointed at her and a mace slammed into her stomach, doubling her over in the pain before a rain of spears caged her for the moment.

Rin very quickly began prying the fingers off her neck as she saw Shirou's arm shake, whatever the circle did to him made him weak enough that lifting his arm was nearly exhausting.

"Master, what have you done?" Saber asked as the spears around her vanished in a burst of red light.

Rin couldn't answer as Shirou set up and with an obvious effort against it he lowered himself to a knee and bowed his head to Rin.

"I ask of you, are you my Master?"

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><p>AN: Well, like I said, the ending was most likely obvious to everybody so leave a review on the story so far.<p>

Peace.


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I do not own Fate/stay night or anything else that appears in this story or associated to it and I am in no way shape or form attempting to or making a profit from this work of fiction.

Alright, note here, this chapter seems a bit bad for me but if you have any suggestions for the story after this chapter feel free to leave a review on it.

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><p>In a forest there stood a castle like manor and from that manor a roar resounded, it would have normally sent any animal running away with the killing intent behind it but it was impossible as they had all long since abandoned the area around the castle.<p>

"Calm down Berserker, you still aren't fully healed yet, let the blood do its work." Illyasveil von Einzbern told her Servant Berserker who merely let out another roar." We'll kill him soon and then we'll have the Holy Grail."

Another roar was her answer.

"Mongrels." A voice announced and the doors were tossed open and in an instant Berserker and smashed his way down to the main foyer, having been on the upper levels with Illyasveil." Present yourselves to me."

"Berserker, come back, now!" Illyasveil ordered but Berserker ignored her order, not stopping his fall and seemed to speed up." Berserker!"

The scream of outrage was ignored and Illyasveil turned off the machine pumping the blood of several Magus onto the floor, the needles at the end sending it all into Berserker only moments ago.

A roar was the intruder's only warning before Berserker's axe sword came swinging down at them, crumbling the ground beneath it in moments but the figure had dodged it, now standing at the top of the steps.

"So you are the Berserker?" the figure asked and Berserker roared before leaping at them again.

A golden portal as tall as the figure appeared next to them and as Berserker was airborne they drew out a beautifully carved crossbow from within it and with a roar from Berserker he unleashed a precise shot on the Servant who roared even as he was shot out of the air and crashed onto the ground.

The figure cast aside the weapon moments later and two smaller portals appeared with one on each of his sides and he drew out a pair of silver hatchets that the threw forward, nearly taking Berserker's arms off as they slammed into his shoulders.

"Berserker!" Illyasveil shouted as she raced down the steps and towards her downed Servant, quickly pouring a bag of the blood down his throat and Berserker instantly rose to his feet, his wounds sealing and the figure merely waited for the Servant to roar and charge again, his massive axe sword aiming to tear the attacker to pieces.

"Be gone you filthy dog." The figure spoke as with a wave of their hand a dozen small golden portals appeared behind them and moments later a rain of swords slammed into Berserker, the Servant able to bat some away at first but the volley steadily picking up speed with the figure soon gaining a borderline psychotic grin on his face, the weapons very quickly slamming into Berserker one after another and even as they shattered on impact they forced the mad Servant back from the force.

"Berserker, quit playing around and kill him!" Illyasveil ordered and Berserker with a roar charged forward, tanking the barrage and the figure's grin turned from psychotic to sadistic as a new set of weapons appeared from the portals and they were rapidly multiplying to include hundreds, all of them aimed at Berserker.

The mad Servant seemed to sense the danger he was in but a glance at Illyasveil standing behind him had him charge forward faster.

"If you insist to throw your life away then so be it." The figure commented as he saw Berserker's charge and the weapons fired down on the Servant with a wave of his hands.

Berserker somehow survived the onslaught and through the rain of steel he had reached the figure and with a roar he had his axe sword raised and from the figure's expression he was truly surprised at the endurance of the Servant.

"How in the na…" the figure couldn't finish his sentence as Berserker slammed his sword down and he was forced to cover himself as best as possible against the attack, it collapsing the floor and sending both down to the basement of the manor.

Roars and the sounds of steel striking the ground or something resounded up from it and once it all ceased the Einzbern Master walked over to the hole and looked down it.

"Berserker." Illyasveil's whisper seemed to carry down and with a grunt of effort the massive Servant managed to pull himself up from the basement moments later.

"Berserker, is he dead?" Illyasveil asked, noticing the blood pooling at her Servant's feet.

"Master, hide."

Berserker actually speaking and giving her a command at the same time was a shock to Illyasveil who was about to question her Servant when a glance, a moment of sanity from Berserker, sent her running up the stairs and into her heavily protected room in the manor.

Berserker, otherwise known as Heracles, savored his first moments of rational thoughts since his Summoning and slowly allowed Mad Enhancement to once again take effect.

'Illyasveil. Protect Illyasveil.'

Those were his last thoughts as the madness once again overtook him and with a roar he leaped down to face the golden armored figure below him.

Illyasveil heard the sounds of the fight downstairs and for once she was worried for her normally unstoppable Servant.

'Berserker…'

Berserker roared as he attacked the figure only to be thrown back by another hail of weapons that failed to actually pierce his skin.

"Learn your place dog!" the figure roared and with a raise of their hand a new set of portals appeared and bombarded Berserker again.

"Know your place dog!" the figure announced as a golden portal appeared behind the figure and moments later a golden headed jewel encrusted war hammer threw Berserker back and through the walls, sending the Servant crashing through trees and boulders in the way of his impromptu flight.

Illyasveil saw this from upstairs from where she had exited her room to watch only to quickly rush back.

The slow steps of the figure as they climbed up the steps and the walked down the hall, towards her room had her very much hoping for her Servant to arrive very soon. But she knew when to do anything in a situation was pointless and this was one of them.

So when the door was slowly opened she was in the right mind to panic as the figure opened the door to her room, casually bypassing the multitude of locks and magic covering it and most of the upper levels of the manor.

"Let's talk."

The door closed behind him and Illyasveil changed from being panicked at the figure's easy defeat of Berserker and entering the mansion to now nothing but terrified at the monster in front of her.

At the Emiya home Rin was in a state of half shock at the scene in front of her and half minor surprise at her ability to do something like this so quickly.

"I ask you again, are you my Master?" Shirou's repeated words drew her out of her half shocked and half surprised state and after a moment she nodded and Shirou rose to his feet.

"Good to know."

With a grin his fist lashed out and Rin doubled over, not even able to see the blow to her stomach, before she collapsed to the side with a nudge from the white haired Magus.

"Master!" Saber called out as she raced forward and attempted to cut Shirou down only for the Magus/Servant to flip over her head and well out of the reach of her sword and a bow formed in his hands, Kanshou in his other hand.

"I am the bone of my sword." Shirou's words shifted the sword into an arrow and now he simply waited for either Rin or Saber to move.

"What do you think you're doing?" Rin demanded, still on the ground but slowly drawing herself up.

"What do you think you're doing?" Shirou asked back as the arrow threatened to shoot towards her now." Where the hell do you get away with turning me into your Servant?"

"You're the one who merged with one and this is a war, you should have expected a betrayal, no not expected, realized allies betray one another. I just did it before you could do the same to me. Now listen to your Master and right now I'm ordering you to follow any commands I give you." Rin told him as part of the Command Spell on her hand faded.

Shirou was about to laugh at her demands when he felt a surge of power rip through his body and the suddenness of it had him lose his focus and his weapons faded and Rin turned to her other Servant.

"Saber, beat some sense into him!" Rin ordered her Servant before turning to Shirou." Archer, stay still!"

Shirou really questioned how the Command Spell could be manipulated like that but the blow of a gauntleted palm from Saber to his chest threw him back and he realized he actually was listening to Rin's command, his body wouldn't move at all.

'What's happening?' Shirou thought as he couldn't even drag himself up, not even speak, his body entirely frozen.

'She can control us dumbass.' Archer answered for him as Rin waved a hand towards them.

"Archer, stand." Rin's voice ordered and Shirou found himself standing but also felt the Command Spell's magic leave him.

'That was annoying.' Shirou thought even as a crossbow appeared in each hand.

"What the?" Rin asked and Shirou grinned as he fired only for Saber to appear in the way and knock away the bolts with her invisible sword.

"Master, leave him to me." Saber told Rin, not taking her eyes off Shirou who rolled his shoulders, glad he could move again.

"Well that was annoying." Shirou commented as the crossbows faded and he frowned." And your little betrayal messed up something, those should have lasted a few seconds longer, at least enough for me to get another shot off each."

Shirou shrugged before a bow appeared in one of his hands and moments later a broadsword appeared in his free hand and it quickly transformed into an arrow.

It was an explosive when he fired it so he expected Saber to dodge it, not cut it in half and her armor wasn't even marked by the explosion and Shirou frowned again.

'What the hell did that spell do to me?' Shirou asked himself as Saber charged forward and he dodged several of her blows but as she leapt back a spray of blood drew his attention to the side of his leg, it was cut.

'I couldn't dodge that, why?' Shirou thought as he formed a bow as he landed and a handful of knives changed into arrows shot towards Saber who batted them away and Shirou rolled out of the way of her next strike and noticed his leg was slowly being knitted back together by blades.

'That's taking far too long, I healed most of the damage from Berserker in that time.' Shirou thought even as another handful of knives changed into drill tipped arrows that he shot towards Saber, the Servant wisely dodging the weapons that kicked up a massive dust cloud on impact with the ground, no doubt aimed to take her sword from her grip.

Shirou used Reinforcement on himself as he dismissed his bow and instead a short sword appeared in each hand and he charged forward and cursed when Saber easily met his blades even when she should be blinded.

It didn't help that his swords shattered on contact and he was forced to leap back from Saber's retaliation, aiming to remove his head form his shoulders.

'This is getting bad, nothing is holding up!' Shirou threw a handful of metal darts forward from both hands that changed into javelins with a flash of red light only for all of them to be shattered by a single swing of Saber's sword.' What is going on?'

'Your Magic Circuits are running haywire, the flow will be irregular for a while.' Archer answered for him and Shirou cursed even as he formed a pair of silver hatchets and tried to attack Saber only to be forced to step back as they shattered as well.

'Then what do I do for the fight?' Shirou asked before he felt what were definitely not his Magic Circuits send a surge of power through him.

'There, I've activated mine so basically just go on instinct and let my power do all the work.' Archer told him after a moment and Shirou grinned before a pair of black handled and silver blades battle axes appeared in his hands and he moved the large weapons effortlessly.

"Let's see what these things can do." Shirou charged forward with the weapons and this time when they met Saber's sword they not only stopped her, but with a quick modification to nearly triple the weight in the axe heads he forced Saber back, her arms numb from the shock of the blow traveling up them.

Shirou pressed the offensive now and Saber saw him to continually hold the weapons with little difficulty, even as he increased their weight before decreasing it constantly and in a moment.

'The potential of this combat style is incredible. I would be dead already if he was to master it.' Saber thought as she sidestepped one axe and then kicked another, snapping the axe head off from the shaft but Shirou simply changed the broken weapon into a bomb he threw at Shirou before wielding his single remaining axe in one hand and his strikes grew faster and the axe heavier, causing Saber to curse as she now avoided his strikes at all costs or else she would be weaponless, the sheer weight of the weapon too much for her to block against when Shirou seemed to prefer overhead strikes.

Saber finally saw her chance to end the fight and a quick sidestep had her on the side of the weapon with Shirou in the midst of modifying the weapon's weight when Saber let out a battle cry and would have taken off his hands if he hadn't released the weapon and jumped back with Saber after him, slashing at him with lethal precision.

'Damn, she's too fast.' Shirou thought even as a cut opened up on his cheek, a warning strike from Saber, and felt his body getting tired as the unknown magic began to affect him.' How am I supposed to keep this up?'

'You idiot.' Archer told him, the Servant forcing himself into control and he dodged Saber's next blow.' I never said you would be able to use it like that.'

A pair of golden hilted and silver bladed rapiers appeared in his hands and a quick modification had strong bands of metal forming a basket like shield around his hands, stopping him from being disarmed easily.

"Let's see what you can do, Saber." Archer spoke up before rushing forward, the rapier's blades taking on the look one wound have with a broadsword.

Saber blocked both blades easily and Archer grinned at that.

'Just as good as I remember.'

Saber quickly caught onto his strategy of dodging and then attacking the moment she was recovering from the failed attack so it very quickly lost its effectiveness, Saber's strikes began leading to the next and she followed Archer anywhere he went.

She missed a downward slash as he sidestepped, the blade moved to cut into his side only for Archer to awkwardly bring up the rapier/broadsword in that hand and wince as he felt his wrist nearly snap.

'Damn, that blow nearly snapped my arm and she could barely put any strength behind it.' Archer thought as he stepped back to avoid the upward slash aimed to slip under his arm and remove it.' I can't keep this up with these weapons but not enough distance yet.'

He threw both swords towards Saber and they exploded as the Servant dodged them, a habit Archer was taking from Shirou.

"I am the bone of my sword." Archer quickly spoke and Kanshou and Bakuya appeared in his hands.

He threw both swords at Saber who deflected them and he leapt into the air and onto the roof to avoid her, his movements a blur to her.

"Steel is my body and fire is my blood." Archer continued and another pair appeared in his hands and he used them to block Saber's blow as she appeared in front of him, her invisible blade slashing at his stomach and the Servant was lucky to get away with only a narrow cut.

"I have created over a thousand blades."

He sent the pair of swords into Overedge with those words and the pair Saber had deflected were drawn back with a thought and slammed into her back, throwing the Servant forward and towards him.

Saber recovered through and blocked his swing at her, noticing it was lacking much power and she quickly dropped to the ground, landing in a crouch and Archer flipped the blades in his hands into the air before holding them out to his sides.

"Unknown to Death…"

In a flash of red light a loaded ballista appeared at each of his sides and fired on Saber, the bolts exploding on impact and Saber wisely chose not to block any of the projectiles and instead avoid them.

"…Nor known to Life."

A new pair of Kanshou and Bakuya appeared in his hands and he flung them both forward, the blades coming at the Servant from the sides and Saber stepped back and allowed the two blades to strike each other and detonate.

"Have withstood pain to create many weapons."

Archer caught the falling pair of transformed blades and he threw himself down towards Saber, the blades held in a certain way behind his back to resemble wings.

He was met by Saber charging him with the release of Prana Burst and using Reinforcement on his entire body and blades stopped him from losing his arms from the clash.

'Damn, I've reached my limit already.' Archer thought before pushing off of Saber and landing some distance away in front of the Servant, who canceled the ability moments later, before turning to see Rin begin standing up on the sidelines.' And if I make an attempt on her life there's no telling what will happen to either me or the brat if she dies.'

'I can hear you, you know that?' Shirou's voice asked and Archer winced at the sudden voice.

'My god that is annoying.' Archer thought as his face took on a shocked expression, confusing Saber.' And I kept doing that to you constantly?'

'Yeah, now dodge!' Shirou shouted and Archer looked up in time to see Saber's invisible blade shooting towards him from a lunge.

Archer sidestepped the sword and very quickly put some more distance between him and the powerful Servant.

"Yet those hands will never hold anything."

Rin's eyes widened in shock at those words, finally understanding he wasn't just using the chant to increase his power and she quickly turned to Saber.

"Saber! Kill him before he can finish that aria!" Rin ordered and Saber nodded as she pointed her sword behind her and rushed forward, releasing both Invisible Air and Prana Burst at a full sprint to charge Archer at top speed.

"So as I pray…" Archer sidestepped her charge, shocking the Servant before she heard cracks and he nearly collapsed.

'My legs just reached their limit even with Reinforcement, I can't move at that speed again.' Archer thought even as Saber charged forward again, the released Excalibur aiming to cut Archer in half when another crack was heard and her arms were stopped.

Saber's eyes widened as a multitude of cracks came from Archer who's face was covered in an agonized expression and his breaths coming in pants.

"…Un..limited Bla..de.."

"I order you to stop!" Rin nearly screamed, having no desire to see what would happen if Archer managed to finish such an aria.

Archer couldn't speak and after a moment he made a gamble and gave Shirou control over his body once again.

'Damn, my body is exhausted.' Shirou thought with a curse as he dropped to his knees.' What the hell did Archer do?'

'I've used most of our energy in my attempt to use my Noble Phantasm, it failed.' Archer spoke from inside his head.

'Then I guess we're done.' Shirou told him before he dragged himself to his feet, Kanshou and Bakuya appearing in his hands.

"I am the bone of my sword."

Shirou knew at this point it was pointless to attack the much stronger Saber but he simply felt like doing it, one of his last acts of free will he supposed.

"Steel is my body and fire is my blood."

He actually managed to dodge Saber's swing of Excalibur and stepped insider her guard, the sword too far out from the missed swing but Shirou stopped his blades before they could stab into her stomach and instead hit her with the blunt edge of the blades.

'She missed on purpose.'

Shirou's foot connected with Saber's gut and she was thrown back with Shirou catching Excalibur and looked at it for a moment before seemingly shrugging and tossing the incredibly powerful sword after its owner as he shot towards Rin.

"I have created over a thousand blades."

Kanshou and Bakuya began breaking down into light and that light flowed in front of him, quickly taking a definite shape in front of Shirou.

"Unknown to Death, Nor known to Life."

An exact copy of Excalibur appeared in front of him and as soon as Shirou grabbed it he felt any of his remaining energy going into fueling the blade.

'Repeat these next words, there's no time to say the rest!" Archer ordered and Shirou decided to listen.

"Thus my life needs no meaning."

Rin's eyes widened and Shirou saw a flash of golden light before he suddenly found himself stopped by chains wrapped around his wrist, neck, legs, abdomen, and around Excalibur even as it broke down into light.

"Which one was it?" a voice asked.

"The white haired one." a terrified voice answered.

"Good, you may now crawl away."

A both terrified and beaten Illyasveil was tossed to the ground as a golden armored blonde haired figure suddenly stood in front of Shirou, red eyes observing him.

"So, you are the Faker I've been looking for this entire time?" the figure asked as Rin very quickly backed away, recognizing the figure while hoping he didn't notice her.

She was wrong to think so as a chain wrapped around her legs moments after she took the first step.

"Don't think I forgot about you Rin." the figure spoke without taking his eyes off of Shirou." I still intend to do as I said I would but I will simply refrain myself, for now I have something more interesting to occupy my time."

'Shirou, the moment you get free, run.' Archer ordered him, a rare true fear in his voice.' Don't do anything but run, he will maim you just to be able to kill you slowly later on. Do you understand?'

'Probably not.' Shirou answered as in a flash of red light his hands were filled with knives and moving his hands as far back as he could he flung them forward and the knives shot forward, turning into weapons ranging from swords to axes.

"Pitiful." The figure commented, simply waving their hand and all Shirou saw were streaks of light that destroyed his weapons and then filled his chest and he was limp in the chains binding him moments later.

Saber saw this as she recovered from Shirou's kick and quickly grabbing Excalibur from where it laid embedded in the ground next to her and standing up.

"Stay away King of Knights." the figure ordered, still not turning around." I do not wish to do battle with you today."

"You have harmed my Master, I cannot allow you to walk away unharmed." Saber told him as she charged forward, the figure sighing but from a golden portal at their side they drew out a golden hilted silver longsword.

He blocked Excalibur with it and seemed to have expected it to shatter as he had already let go of it and from behind him countless of he golden portals opened with countless weapons emerging from them.

"I gave you warning King of Knights, now fall." The figure announced as the weapons shot forward and in moments Saber saw her shattered armor drop to the ground.

'Gilgamesh, you haven't changed at all.' Saber thought as she blocked most of the weapons with Excalibur but saw the change in them, they were now blunt and aimed to knock her out.

'Yes, he definitely hasn't changed.'

Gilgamesh turned away as Saber was finally overwhelmed by the rain of weapons and turned his attention to the healing Shirou.

"Tell me Faker, do you know what happened to you?" Gilgamesh asked as with a thought the weapons in Shirou vanished.

"I'm having a really bad day?" Shirou asked as he nodded towards the Rin and then the chains." First I become her Servant, against my will might I add, and now I'm probably dealing with some type of god with my luck."

The chains suddenly vanished and Shirou landed in a crouch with the temptation to attack the figure to think against it.

"You are correct, I am the King of Heroes, Gilgamesh. The closest a creature like you will ever come to the divine." Gilgamesh answered and with little warning he put a blade through Shirou's chest and pulled it out moments later, allowing Shirou to convulse on the ground.

"I recognize the power of Avalon, you seem to be adept at its usage." Gilgamesh commented as Shirou rolled on the ground, clutching at the now smoking wound on his chest." But, sadly for you Faker, I was prepared for this."

Blades began sprouting from the screaming Shirou's chest, tearing through his clothes as Gilgamesh stepped back, his eyes now holding interest in Shirou.

"You may scream all you want, it won't help heal a wound from something that cannot heal." Gilgamesh told him as he raised the blade in his hand up into the air." As my treasury holds everything I feel it important to tell you that this is one of the many prototypes of the Noble Phantasm known as Gae Bolg."

"Any reason you're telling me this?" Shirou managed to ask and one of Gilgamesh's armored boots threw him back and into a wall, cracking it as he hit it before dropping to the ground below it.

"I understand your ability and expect you to survive such a wound." Gilgamesh answered before turning away." But if you don't then I would have been mistaken."

"Mistaken on what?"

Gilgamesh had already vanished when Shirou asked his question so silence was his answer.

"Dammit." Shirou cursed even as he felt the stab finally begin to heal, the blades around it knitting together.

'Perhaps now is our chance to deal with Rin, we can free ourselves if the Servant bond.' Archer spoke up and Shirou looked towards Rin, the Magus having fainted at some point, and shook his head after a moment.

'We've got to wait it out, believe me when I say I'll kill her if we didn't risk killing ourselves.'

Since Gilgamesh had shattered the barrier both on his way in and on his way out Shirou grabbed Saber and Rin and with a look behind him at his house he left it.

"At least he's not a lost cause." Archer commented, sitting on the blackened sand and looking out to the distance, the twilight receding." But he'll get himself killed so I guess I need to make it soon."

The gears that hung above him continued to turn and Archer found some peace in that as he stood up.

"It's a shame I've got to waste so much energy on the brat but I can't have him dying, at least not yet."

He walked away and towards the forge, buried under a dune of blackened sand and marked with a single sword set at the top of the hill.

"Time to get to work."

* * *

><p>AN: Well, chapter over with and good for you if you can guess what Archer is making and why Gilgamesh is interested in Shirou.<p>

Peace.


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I do not own Fate/stay night or anything else that appears in this story with it all belonging to their respective owners and I am not attempting to or making or profit from this work of fiction in any way shape or form.

And in response to a guest review, anderson, I think it's a bit extreme to kill her since I had reasons and a nice plot idea when she betrayed Shirou.

* * *

><p>Shirou stopped at a forest and decided it was the best place to set up a temporarily camp, at least until Rin woke up and he could drag her back to the house to make another barrier.<p>

Under his supervision of course, he didn't want a repeat of last time.

'I am the bone of my sword.'

'What?' Shirou asked as Archer's sudden use of the first line of the aria.

Shirou found himself consumed in red light and moments later he found his clothes changed to black body armor with parts of a red cloak covering his arms and shoulders and hanging down from his waist, the pieces secured with clasps, with black pants and combat boots.

'I thought you need better clothes since you are a Servant now.' Archer's voice spoke, Shirou hearing the exhaustion in it.

'So, I thought I was stuck with blades, how did you make this?' Shirou asked as he glanced down at the armor and immediately knew everything about it, same with the red cloak he was wearing.

'You only limit yourself to swords, since everything is necessary for swords than other things can be created with a larger effort, something I mastered during my lifetime.' Archer answered and Shirou nodded.

'So, is anything going to attack me since you gave me this now?' Shirou asked and could hear Archer's grin in his next words.

'Yes, Caster and her Master should be attacking right about…'

Shirou grabbed the still down Saber and Rin and rolled out of the way of a rain of what looked like beams of light.

'Now.' Archer finished his thought and Shirou quickly formed a bow in his hands followed by three arrows from knives in his other.

'You are an ass.' Shirou told Archer before turning his entire attention to the fight he was bound to have now.

He spotted what would be a blur to anyone else but to him and his Reinforcement eyesight it was very clear.

It was Caster's Master moving at inhumane speeds in a bid to kill either Rin or Saber and Shirou found himself grinning at the confused expression on the man's face at the sight of him standing over both of them.

He didn't give him much time to think on a target as he let the three arrows shot towards him only for Shirou's aim to be off as he forced to dodge another bombardment of beams of light.

'That's getting annoying but if the Master is close than the Servant is closer.' Shirou thought and Archer nodded in agreement.

'I can give you a surge of energy, but it will leave you weakened for a while afterwards, it would be more like an adrenaline shot really.' Archer told him and after a moment Shirou nodded.

'How long do I have?' Shirou asked as he felt the surge of energy shot through his Magic Circuits.

'A few minutes so either retreat quickly or kill faster.' Archer told him before going silent.

Shirou easily dodged another beam of light but quickly was sent far away from the downed Rin and Saber from a constant bombardment aimed at him.

"I am the bone of my sword." Shirou whispered as a javelin with a spiraling tip appeared in his hands before he threw it forward.

It slammed into the ground at the Master's feet moments later and the explosion it caused threw them back only for a figure to catch them and set him down.

"Master, are you alright?" Caster asked and Kuzuki nodded.

"We should retreat, even with your spells keeping him distracted he still managed to fire a shot that would have killed me even if it hit as it did." Kuzuki told Caster who quickly covered both with her cloak and they vanished, just as an arrow would have pierced their heads.

"You've got to be kidding me." Shirou spoke with a curse but let his bow disappear in a flash of light." I didn't even need anything to deal with those two."

'Maybe but now you can perhaps make a barrier, however crude it may be, with some of the weapons you have at your disposal.' Archer spoke up and Shirou sighed as he walked up to Rin and kicked her in the back, seeing if she got up only to receive no movement so he kicked her again.

'I said you make the barrier, not her.' Archer told Shirou even as he kicked Rin again, still receiving no response.

'I can't do anything besides Reinforcement and Projection so I don't trust myself to make even a decent barrier.' Shirou told the Servant as he kicked Rin again.' So I have to rely on her to do it.'

'Than you should probably try something else, kicking her may be entertaining but it won't get her up.' Archer spoke up after a moment and Shirou decided to take his advice, grinning as a plan came to mind.

Rin Tohsaka found herself shaken awake and she panicked at the situation she found herself in.

Shirou, now wearing parts of a red cloak and body armor, stood at a cliff with a raging river below it and she was hanging off, only stopped from falling by Shirou's hand holding both of her own above her head.

"Are you going to kill me?" Rin asked and Shirou chuckled, lessons from Archer in the few minutes it took for Rin to wake up making it demonic.

"Kill you?" Shirou asked before shaking Rin." That's too easy for what you did to me. I'll do things to you that will make you pray for it."

Shirou nearly dropped her as tremors raced through her body so added his other hand, around her throat to both hold her and stop her from shaking as she froze in fear.

"But right now I need you, Gilgamesh shattered the barrier around the house so I need you to put it up again." Shirou told her and Rin already was making a plan." But I'll be watching you and do remember, I can kill you with a lot of things and do it slowly."

Rin's plans stopped and burned moments later with her shaking returning.

Shirou internally sighed at her response and very quickly shifted his grip to her feet and held her so she was level with his eyes.

"Any plans you may have, stop them and prepare yourself to make the barrier. Saber will assist you and I will have both of you in my sight." Shirou told them and threw Rin behind him without another word.

Saber seemed to have woken up at some point and caught her Master before she could hit the ground.

"And by the way, who's Gilgamesh?"

Since Shirou didn't bother turning around when he asked he missed Rin's fearful expression at the name and Saber's sigh.

"A monster."

"Annoying."

The two very different answers had Shirou confused so he turned around and was instantly assaulted by a memory so sudden and violent he was sent stumbling back and over the cliff he had held Rin over

He of course didn't know it as he was sucked into memory not his own. Saber through did and set Rin down and dived after him moments later, quickly catching up to the falling Shirou and wrapping her arms around his waist and a quick use of Prana Burst had them slam into the cliff side with Saber taking most of the impact and her armor stopping most of it from reaching her.

One hand let go of Shirou and her hands dug into rock to keep them in place.

"Rin, I could use some help!" Saber called up to the cliff where Rin was looking down, her face thoughtful.

"Saber, throw him up!" Rin shouted down after a moment and with some trepidation the Servant threw the prone Magus up to her Master.

Rin quickly used Reinforcement to grab Shirou and moments later Saber ran up and stopped at her Master's side.

"What do you think is wrong with him Master?" Saber asked as Rin set Shirou down, more along the lines of slamming him down onto rocks.

"All I can tell you is that he's in a trance." Rin spoke after a moment as Shirou remained in the memory, unknown to the two.

"How long will he be in it?" Saber asked, moving her eyes from Shirou to the forests they found themselves in." We will have to move eventually and I do not know where he has brought us."

Rin was silent and stepped back as Shirou suddenly shot to his feet.

"So, why were you so terrified of Gilgamesh?" Shirou asked.

At Shirou's abandoned house Gilgamesh had reappeared and walked through the backdoor, finding no need to alert anyone to his presence inside.

He moved over the closet and after a moment of thought his armor once again appeared and he spiked his hair up once again.

'I have to have the proper appearance of a king.' Gilgamesh thought as he ripped open the door.

Shinji would have rushed straight into Gilgamesh if a mass of golden portals didn't appear behind the King of Heroes.

"What the hell?" Shinji nearly screamed as he backed into the closet." Where's that…"

"Faker." Gilgamesh interrupted him." He is gone and I am here to handle business, business that you are a part of."

"What do you mean?" Shinji asked and he grew very afraid at Gilgamesh's grin.

"All witnesses to the Grail War must be eliminated." Gilgamesh's words sent Shinji into a panic and he made a very valiant attempt to merge with the wall.

"W..wh..h..ha..at d..do y…you m…m…e…e..an?" Shinji stuttered and Gilgamesh merely chuckled.

"You are not a Master in the Grail War nor are you a Magus so you are someone who should be killed to preserve the secrecy of it." Gilgamesh told him as without further ado numerous weapons emerged from the golden portals behind him.

"Wait, wait, I can take you to another Master and her Servant!" Shinji hastily shouted and Gilgamesh merely laughed." What about money, jewelry, gold?"  
>"Nothing you can offer can even interest me." Gilgamesh spoke and Shinji panicked now.<p>

"What about two, no three Masters and all of them together and without their Servants, is that enough!" Shinji pleaded with the golden armored Servant who paused.

"And how will you accomplish such a thing?" Gilgamesh asked, the weapons receding, for now at least.

"My useless sister is one of them and she comes over here every day and tow Master are here, I just need time and I can give you all three of them!" Shinji spoke up, glad that Gilgamesh seemed to accept his offer as the King of Heroes raised one gauntleted hand.

"I'm afraid I simply don't believe such a pathetic being such as yourself capable of something like that." Gilgamesh spoke and Shinji screamed as the weapons shot towards him.

At the Einzbern castle themed manor one Illyasveil von Einzbern found herself still shaking, even after Berserker had taken her far from Shirou's house after Gilgamesh had tossed her aside and she had strengthened the manor's protections considerably.

'Why am I still terrified of him?' Illyasveil questioned herself, the golden armored figure of Gilgamesh still very clear every time she closed her eyes.' What is that monster in the first place?'

At the church one former Executor, Kirei Kotomine, watched the diagram of Fuyuki that showed the position of all Servants and Masters in the Grail War.

'This maybe a more interesting task than I originally thought.' The 'Priest' thought.' Much more interesting.'

The only thing he regretted about this Grail War was that he wouldn't be there to see their expression when they reached the Grail, it would have been one of the greatest moments of his life.

Next to the fire he had caused ten years ago, it would be hard to ever find something that great again.

In the forest Rin found herself frozen even at the mention of the King of Heroes and Saber found herself annoyed at the mere mention of his name.

Shirou was really ignoring all of this, more focused on the memory that had nearly claimed his life.

'What was that?'

'A memory of when I was alive, it is a normal part of the Servant and Master process.' Archer answered after a moment.

'That is going to get incredibly annoying, very, very soon.'

'The point is it have it when you sleep, the memories being the Master's dream, your botched Summoning caused this.'

'I didn't botch it, there was just a problem.'

'Like I said before, it's called botching.'

'Shut up.'

'I won.'

Archer was silent after his last comment and Shirou decided to turn his attention to Rin once again.

"Well, what makes you so afraid of him?" Shirou asked and Rin took a step back at the glare on his face." Oh come on, I got filled with weapons from him and you don't see me shaking at mentioning him."

"He killed my father." Rin answered after a moment and Shirou frowned.

"And?" Shirou asked, not seeing much to be afraid about.

'Her father most likely died in the last Grail War and it looks like Gilgamesh got summoned in both this one and that one, but there's no reason for her to be this afraid of him.'

"He was his Servant and he killed him." Rin continued and Shirou took a glance towards the Command Spells on her hands.

'That explains why she did her little betrayal on us.' Archer spoke up and Shirou mentally nodded.

"_You're the one who merged with one and this is a war, you should have expected a betrayal, no not expected, realized allies betray one another. I just did it before you could do the same to me. Now listen to your Master and right now I'm ordering you to follow any commands I give you." _

'That clears up her little speech for us.' Shirou thought, remembering Rin's mini-speech after she had bond him as her Servant.

"I see, so that's why I'm stuck with you." Shirou commented as he made an obvious glance at her hand, two Command Spells left and he saw it was a bow with an arrow and sword crossed over it with the bow faded out." You've got a fear of betrayals since your father was betrayed by his Servant in the previous war."

"It's really…" Shirou couldn't find the right word for a moment before Archer supplied one for him."…pathetic."

He dodged the black sphere fired at him from Rin's fingertips and fired himself grinning at the enraged expression on her face.

"It's really, really, pathetic. I mean do you really think I even give a damn about that stupid Grail?" Shirou told her, rolling to avoid another of the same black orb from Rin." I mean, it's ridiculous to think anything can grant any wish, who's naïve enough to believe that?"

"My family helped create the Grail over two hundred years ago, how dare you insult them!" Rin snapped as she turned to Saber only for a hand to cover her mouth.

"Yeah, that's not going to work." Shirou told her, his voice coming from behind her and Shirou mentally sighed.

'That Reinforcement was a risk, a big one but it looks like my body's stronger than before. I barely felt any strain and that was nearly my max from before.'

Shirou backed away from Rin a few moments later and he formed a pair of triple bladed claws appeared in his hands and sliding into place between his fingers moments later.

"Are you done yet?" Shirou asked only to have to dodge another black sphere fired by Rin.

"I guess not."

In Fuyuki one Sakura Matou was set down by her Servant Rider and from what she could see it looked like a park.

"What happened to Shinji, why are you back to me?" Sakura asked her Servant who thought for a moment before responding.

"The fool angered a stronger Magus and the energy destroyed the Book of False Attendant." Rider blatantly lied to her Master, having destroyed the book herself when Shinji was trapped in the closet after he had stepped into the Emiya house and simply waited for her chance to grab Sakura." I have returned to you and I fear creating another book for your…Shinji will be detrimental to his health and your own."

Rider would very quickly kill Shinji and, if it came to it, hurt Sakura to stop her from giving up control of her to someone else.

"Then what about…"

"Shirou is fine, he is the Magus that Shinji angered so the fall didn't harm him." Rider continued before grabbing her Master and dragging her towards another part of the park.

'Hopefully I can wait out this war and if the worse happens I can enter an alliance with Emiya, he cares for my Master so he will at least help me protect her.' Rider thought even as she shifted Sakura to carry the purple haired girl on her back.' That is if he doesn't kill me on the spot.'

At the forest Shirou dodged Rin's Gandr shots with ease, his archery adjusted eyes easily seeing the spheres so he easily dodged them.

"Are you still not done?" Shirou asked even as he sidestepped another volley of Gandr shots from Rin.

"Take back what you said." Rin demanded and Shirou chuckled.

'I hope you have a plan, once she calms down she'll probably use a Command Spell and have us jump off a cliff or something.' Archer spoke up and Shirou waved off his worries.

'I've got this all under control, watch this.' Shirou answered back as he ducked another Gandr.

"So, is this all your father taught you? How to shoot, terribly might I add, before he went and died, killed by his own Servant?" Shirou asked and Rin froze for a moment.

'Did we break her?' Archer asked before Rin's body language seemed to scream nothing but murder as she raced towards Shirou.

'Nope.' Shirou answered even as a broadsword appeared in a flash of red light and he used the broad blade to block the half dozen Gandr shots fired at him.' Not one bit, we've just pissed her off.'

'No, you pissed her off.' Archer corrected before going silent and Shirou's eyes widened as he dodged a Gandr shot aimed for his more private area.

'She's trying to kill me.'

"Die you bastard!" Rin shouted as she fired a bowling ball sized Gandr from the palm of her hand and this one was explosive, forcing Shirou to dodge it or risk losing his arms, Reinforcement or not.

'I may have taken it too far.' Shirou thought as Archer remained silent.' But I can work with this.'

"What are you grinning about bastard!"

Shirou was forced to dodge another larger than average Gandr at that.

At the Emiya house Gilgamesh chuckled at Shinji's terrified expression before his amusement was gone and instead replaced by a look of revulsion, the many weapons aimed to kill Shinji stopped in midair, wrapped in a golden glow.

"You've…" Gilgamesh couldn't really speak at the awful smell emitting from a pleading and sobbing Shinji.

The King of Heroes found himself very tempted to kill Shinji but the idea of the blood, or whatever ran through the veins of something so pathetic, of such a creature staining any of his weapons made him want to vomit at even thinking it.

"This, this is too pathetic." Gilgamesh commented as his weapons and armor vanished." You are a creature I question the existence of and pray it is simply some trick of the Gods, surely something like you cannot be born from mortal means."

Without another word the King of Heroes decided to leave the house before he was forced to see Shinji do anything else and stain some of his weapons in eradicating him from this world.

He also sealed the closet door, barricading it with several weapons out of his sheer annoyance, hoping Shinji died a much slower and painful death of starvation than simply stabbing him would prove.

'That death will have to do.' Gilgamesh thought as he left the house, planning to see what Kotomine had discovered so far on the Grail War and its participants.

In the forests Shirou dodged Rin's kick before grabbing her leg and tossing her back into a tree where she used Reinforcement on her body, immediately getting up from her crash into the tree.

"So, is that it?" Shirou asked even as he rolled out of the way of Rin's fist as she shot forward." All it took was me

"You little bastard!" Rin screamed as she fired several Gandr at Shirou only for him to sidestep the projectiles.

"Why, just understand that you have a pointless fear of Gilgamesh. I was nearly burned to death in fire but I'm not terrified at the mention of it, without that fire I wouldn't be me so I accept it." Shirou snapped at Rin as he ducked under her blows as she closed the distance between them.

"Shut up, you didn't see your father die in front of you!" Rin snapped and Shirou merely grinned as he grabbed her arms with both hands.

"You're right, I had to watch my old man slowly wither away." Shirou answered before falling onto his back and sending Rin back even as he rolled back to his feet and turned on his heel to face her, dodging the Gandr shots fired at him." Every day I saw him grow weaker and weaker and the worse thing was that I knew it was happening, I knew he was going to die soon but does it look like I'm some loony afraid of tomorrow?"

A pair of silver longswords appeared in his hands and he raced towards Rin who used Reinforcement to speed herself up, dodging his deadly blows.

"No, I'm always ready for it and willing to face it!"

A blow to his arm knocked one sword from his grip and Rin snatched it out the air and taking a moment to adjust to the weapon she charged forward, slashing wildly at Shirou.

"How do you expect to beat me with a sword?" Shirou asked her as one strike shattered it before with a wave of his hands several dozen weapons appeared in the around them." Go and pick one up, it won't help you fight me."

A pair of knives in a tree drew Rin's attention and she quickly grabbed them before rushing towards Shirou again, failing to even scratch him with the weapons.

"Is that it?" Shirou asked before letting his sword go as it vanished in a flash of light and grabbed her wrist." Is that all you can do, throw a tantrum and try to stab someone who lives, breathes, and will die by the sword?"

Rin released the knives and instead fired several Gandr in rapid succession from her fingertips, Shirou letting her go to dodge them and he stopped next to a halberd, drawing it out of the ground and spinning it once before holding it with both hands.

"So, anything else in your arsenal?" Shirou asked and he batted away several Gandr fired at him with the halberd moments later before with Reinforcement Rin appeared behind him and kicked out the back of his leg only for the halberd in his hands to swing above him and aim to cut off her head if she wasn't in the process of locking Shirou in a choke hold so the shaft slammed into her, throwing her back before she recovered and sprinted towards Shirou again, her mind blinded by rage and the overwhelming desire for Shirou's blood on her hands.

Shirou decided enough was enough at this point so a booted foot slammed into her chest and would have sent her flying off the cliff if Shirou didn't move faster and grab her from behind.

"So, calm yet?" Shirou asked the Magus who was breathing heavily and was getting slower the longer the fight went on.

"I'll kill you later." Rin told him as he let her go and she took several minutes to compose herself.

"Well, that went reasonably well, I've finally got a level of your combat skills so now I have an idea on how much I should bother with you if I'm ever stuck fighting with you." Shirou spoke after a moment before bowing towards Rin." Even if I hate you, and I mean I really hate you, I shouldn't have insulted both your family and your father as I did. I really should have just insulted you, actually I could have just insulted you a lot more and gotten you really pissed off."

The apology, if it could really be called that, was a shock to Rin but after a quick thought and a sigh she nodded.

"I'll take what I can get. Apology accepted." Rin spoke after a moment and Shirou smirked.

"So, what do we do 'Master'?" Shirou asked and Rin turned to Saber to find her coming from the forest with a bundle of firewood in her arms, for now the Master ignoring Shirou's question and annoyance.

"Saber, what are you doing?" Rin asked as the King of Knights dropped the firewood in a growing pile.

"I am collecting firewood, we are camping here, correct?" Saber asked and Rin decided to just go along with it.

"I suppose so, Shirou, no, Archer, do you know anything about camping?" Rin asked as she turned to the Magus/Servant to find him gone." Where did he go so fast?"

"About a meter or so behind you."

Rin turned to see Shirou having, with some effort and a lot of energy, created a tent for each of them.

"How did you do that, I thought you could only do swords?" Rin demanded and Shirou shrugged.

"It's definitely harder but if I have the stuff to make swords I can make other things like the tents." Shirou decided on answering after a moment of thought and debate with Archer.

'You idiot.' The Servant in his head spoke after a moment.' Words can't describe how stupid you are.'

"Really?" Rin asked and Shirou nodded, albeit hesitantly at the grin forming on Rin's face.

"Yeah, it's just a little more effort." Shirou answered and he heard Archer face-palm.

'Dumbass.' Archer spoke up.

"Then you are useful after all." Rin commented and seemingly seconds later Shirou found a list in his hands." You can do all of this now."

Shirou could only stare in shock as Rin walked away and over to Saber and the growing mountain of firewood the Servant had gathered.

"Saber, we're not building a bonfire, we just need a small fire!"

"Wait, what?" Shirou found himself asking thin air.

The next morning found the three sitting around the remains of the campfire.

"Caster is located at Ryuudouji Temple and from what I could see from this distance she is using it as both a power source and a fortress." Shirou informed both Rin and Saber, drawing a quick map of the temple and the surrounding area in the ground using a dagger." And with that barrier around the temple, we'll go in weakened if we take anyway but the steps which she has a capable guard on, a Servant she or her Master summoned at some point."

"So, any ideas on how to attack her?" Rin asked after a moment and Shirou chuckled.

"I have a plan but I was hoping to save this for Berserker if we were to fight again." Shirou answered." It's a last resort but I'll still be able to provide cover and support from somewhere nearby, preferably out of Caster's range."

"Then that can wait, what of the other Servants?" Rin asked and Shirou had created a rough map of Fuyuki and it's surrounding in a few minutes.

"Well, from what I could sense, Lancer is mobile and so far he doesn't have a base of operations, Berserker is somewhere deep in the forest, and Rider is somewhere in Fuyuki, I just don't know where but she's staying in a general area." Shirou answered after a moment, either marking the location of each Servant or drawing a circle around the area he had sensed them last night and this morning.

"So what are your plans for the other Servants?" Saber asked, speaking for the first time and Shirou shrugged.

"As basic as I could get, shoot them with ridiculously powerful arrows and hope they manage to kill them, eventually." Shirou answered and Rin sighed as she took the dagger from his hands.

"We need help or need him weakened to take down Berserker so he will be one of the last Servants we fight, we can track down Rider and easily beat her but that will take time and effort that will waste one or several days so we can save her for a later date, Caster, as you said, has a fortress she is probably drawing power from as well as a capable Master and a second Servant is under her control most likely so it would be an annoyance to fight her but she's one of the easier targets since we know where she's at, and lastly we have Lancer who seems to be scouting out the Servants on orders from his Master who is no doubt a threat we need to deal with if they still haven't made an actual move yet besides scouting. So in the end we can either go find Rider, go deeper into the forest and deal with Berserker, or take out Caster, which one do you two want?"

Rin finished her speech by looking up at the two Servants, in her mind at least, and waited for an answer.

"We can split up." Shirou suggested only for both Saber and Rin to shake their heads no.

"It would weaken us as a group, it is better to remain together and defeat our opponents without having to worry about each other." Saber spoke after a moment and Shirou sighed.

"Then where can I shoot from?" Shirou asked and Rin thought for a moment before letting out a sigh.

"I have no idea, you may have to fight up the steps with Saber." Rin told him and Shirou mentally cursed.

'Patience, it's not like we can't do it now.' Archer spoke in his mind.

'It's more believable the other way.' Shirou answered back.

"I guess I'll find a spot myself, can't be too hard." Shirou spoke after a moment as he was going off which weapons to use.

"Then it's settled, we will face Caster today." Saber spoke as she stood up with Rin following her only for Shirou to remain crouched.

"What's wrong with you?" Rin immediate asked at the blank expression on one of her Servant's face.

"I just realized I'm probably going to end up dead by the end of this stupid thing." Shirou answered after a moment, rising to his feet as he did so and after a moment shrugging." But hey, everyone's got to go sometimes."

He wordlessly walked off and Rin felt a rare feeling of guilt from her actions before quickly brushing it aside.

'He would have betrayed me just like Gilgamesh did my father, he has to be under my control.' Rin reasoned with herself but her feeling of guilt were only pushed to the side for now and they were building up, ever since binding Archer as her Servant she's been pushing aside anything she felt towards it and it was going to come back and bite her soon enough, just not yet.' It's better that I win than someone else, I'm the most qualified and my wish won't cause any damage.'

"I am the bone of my sword."

Shirou's words brought her out of her thoughts and with a nod to Saber the Servant rushed ahead to see what went wrong.

"What's the matter with you?" Shirou asked as he saw Saber charge into the forest, her invisible sword drawn and ready to fight.

The Magus/Servant had merely created his bow and used Reinforcement on it to strengthen the already enhanced weapon.

"Nothing." Rin answered for her Servant as she walked up to him." Let's just get there quickly."

"If you insist." Shirou spoke and without warning he picked Rin up and with his max Reinforcement he was a bullet as he shot through the trees, narrowly avoiding certain death for both if he even stumbled at the speeds he was going.

Saber followed her screaming Master through the forests at a more normal pace and sighed.

'I sometimes wish I had not been summoned, these people are weirder than I would like and I pray for my sanity.'

At the Ryuudouji Temple Caster sat with her Master, one Souichirou Kuzuki, and planned her defense.

'That Archer Servant is bound to arrive soon and the moment he does I'll have a new bodyguard, two if Saber is brought as well.' Caster thought with a small smile.' And then I and Kuzuki will win this war unopposed with three extra Servants, even if one of them is nearly useless if he wasn't an adequate guard on those steps.'

Kuzuki himself was silent, he really didn't care for the war but if Caster did then he would at least offer his support in it. Even if he found no good reason to fight he didn't want to return to what he was before he met the Servant.

In under an hour the three stood at the base of the steps and with a sigh Shirou rushed up the steps after setting Rin down, firing arrow after arrow up at the guard he could see near the top.

Each arrow was dodged and Shirou cursed as he heard Saber quickly catch up to him.

"I will distract him, hit him when you can." Saber told him before rushing ahead with a short use of Prana Burst, Shirou cursing as she moved ahead of him.

He angled his bow into the air and fired a dozen more shots that rained down on the guard who stepped up the steps to dodge them.

"Rin, this is hopeless!" Shirou shouted down to her without turning around." We're going to die on these steps!"

"Keep going." Rin ordered from behind him and he sighed before picking up speed and leaping, hoping to hit the guard from above when the, in his mind, stupidly long, sword the guard wielded shot into the air and the tip wound have slit his throat it he didn't sacrifice his bow to block it.

"Trace on!"

He stopped the, admittedly slow, blow from behind aimed to decapitate him with an identical blade and flipped over the Servant to land in front of Saber.

"Go on ahead, I'll deal with him." Shirou told her and after a moment the powerful Servant rushed ahead with Shirou sprinting ahead of her and clashing blades with the Servant.

"Well this is interesting to say the least." The Servant commented as he looked on the same stance, or lack of, he used being used by his opponent." What an interesting duel this is shaping out to be."

"I'm not interesting in fighting you today, could you just give up?" Shirou asked and the Servant lightly chuckled.

"I can't allow that, Caster's going to have my head, or chest, for letting one of you pass so if I let you pass I'll not only miss a good fight but also she'll probably try to kill me." The Servant answered and Shirou's brain, Archer in reality, supplied a class for the Servant.

"It's weird for an Assassin to be this good and out in the open like this, are you sure you're in the right class?" Shirou asked after a moment and Assassin merely shrugged his shoulders.

"I can't truly tell you but enough talk." Assassin told him and their blades clashed once again, to any observer it would seem like a lazy spar at the way they held their stances but looks were deceiving.

The fight could end in a moment and every strike seemed to move towards the neck as if drawn by a magnet.

"I am the bone of my sword." Shirou whispered and moments later the sword he wielded grew longer than Assassin's and the Servant for once found himself backing up, falling to an inverted version of his own technique.

His opponent was using his longer blade coupled with his lower position to constantly attack Assassin's legs, making a counterattack harder as even at his full reach his sword wouldn't reach and with the thought of losing his legs forcing Assassin to climb up the steps, steadily losing his ground to Shirou who continued his attack.

"Steel is my body and fire is my blood." Shirou whispered and moments later a second identical sword appeared in his other hand and Assassin found himself quickly reaching the top of the steps in the hurricane that Shirou had become.

Unseen to Assassin blood dripped form Shirou's mouth, the strain of the Reinforcement to move so fast for so long very quickly getting to him.

'You can't keep this up, get him up the steps and kill him there.' Archer ordered and Shirou found himself following it, pressing his attack and Assassin was now leaping up the steps in his retreat.

He found himself growing more and more excited at the battle and began to press the attack, landing on one of Shirou's blades and pinning it to a step as he used his new position to follow his style of attacking from the higher ground.

Shirou was forced to let go of the sword to step back and avoid certain death before a dagger identical to Rider's appeared in his hands and he used it to pull the hilt of his sword back, sending it sliding down the steps with Assassin on it.

The Servant was seemingly unaffected and Shirou found himself running down the steps backwards in order to escape the onslaught while forced to defend at the same time, the quickly closing distance leaving less and less time for his own attacks and he was soon forced to block almost constantly.

"Enough of this." Shirou muttered to himself before stopping his retreat and instead racing forward, charging Assassin.

The Servant sighed at this, an easy kill now as Shirou came well within range of his blade.

A single swing should have done it but Shirou shocked him by grabbing the blade with his free hand, allowing it to cut into his hand before bringing his own blade down, aiming to cut Assassin in half only for the Servant to pull his blade out of Shirou's grasp and stop the blow before moving up the steps as Shirou kicked the hilt of his sword into the air and it would have thrown Assassin onto the steps if he hadn't already jumped off and moving up the steps, deflecting the storm of weapons Shirou began launching at him as he grabbed the still airborne second sword.

Shirou raced forward in the midst of the blades and once he had reached Assassin they stopped and the two clashed blades again, the Servant once again finding himself climbing up the steps as Shirou pressed his advantage, unwilling to be forced to start at the bottom of the steps again or even climb down them until he had defeated Assassin.

'Incredible.' Assassin found himself thinking even as he reached the top of the steps and stepped back to avoid Shirou's swords.' But I've reached the top, I have to end the fight now.'

With almost a sigh Assassin prepared for his ultimate and only technique, something that was a certain kill.

"Tsubame Gaeshi!"

What followed was hard to believe.

Both voices cried out the name and both seemed to deliver a single slash using both blades only for Assassin to lower his blade moments later, his body breaking down as it was surrounded in a blue glow but the Servant had a small smile on his face.

"Using my own technique from one blade to cancel it out and then attack me with it with the second, such an amazing style and I wish I had seen it a second time." Assassin spoke as Shirou's swords vanished in a flash of red light, the Magus not advancing and instead watching Assassin fade away." You may pass."

The Servant faded away completely and after a moment Shirou raced past the spot he had previously guarded with Rin following behind him.

"Archer, what was that?" Rin asked and Shirou remained silent." Archer, I asked you a question, what was that?"

Shirou continued to annoy her as he wordlessly formed his bow and a handful of knives lengthened into arrows before he fired them in an arc.

It was a good thing too as they stopped Caster from stabbing Saber in the back, the Servant forced to dodge the three arrows, each arrow landing moments after the other and forcing her to take a step back o dodge each.

With a curse the Servant vanished just as Shirou reached the top of the steps and was ready to fire another arrow.

"Saber, can you still fight?" Shirou asked and the Servant nodded, her armor unmarked and Shirou then turned his attention to the temple doors.

"Stand back."

With a flash of light an arrow covered in a red light appeared in his hands and moments later the doors exploded inward.

"Well, this is easier than I thought." Rin commented as Shirou lowered his bow and allowed it to vanish in a red light.

"No it's not, we're just lucky so far." Shirou answered as he stayed immobile at the temple doors." Very, very lucky."

A beam of light from above struck Shirou in the arm even as the explosive force behind it threw him back and rolling down the steps.

"Archer!"

Rin turned to Saber and without orders the Servant guarded the steps as she faced the temple with her sword drawn and held in front of her, ready to repel any attack as Rin used Reinforcement to race down the steps after the falling Archer.

Shirou found his left arm entirely worthless, the explosion from the attack breaking most of the bones in it and he cursed as his right arm desperately tried to grab onto the now slippery steps even as blood freely flowed from his left shoulder, leaving a trail as he fell.

'Dammit, dammit, dammit.' Shirou mentally cursed as even the weapons he used would fail, either breaking or not penetrating the steps.

Rin reached him around halfway down and she grabbed his uninjured arm and managed to at least slow him down long enough for him to get his feet under him and then leap, pulling Rin up with him and slipped his arm around her waist as he reached the top of the steps in a few jumps to see Saber knocking aside beams of light fired form all around her.

"I am the bone of my sword." Shirou whispered even as he dropped Rin off at the top of the stairs and leapt into the air, a crossbow appearing in his working hand and he fired it, the single bolt multiplying into many and they turned explosive.

He had aimed towards the temple and was basically trying to collapse it only for portals to open up in front of and around the temple and they unleashed more explosive beams of light that intercepted his attack, destroying them all outright, and then shot towards him.

Shirou couldn't even think of a curse as with his one arm he created a large silver Spartan shield that he held in front of him, blocking most of the attack but sending him crashing into Saber from the force of the countless explosions accompanying it. Both Servants were done from it with Saber stunned from Shirou slamming into her and Shirou clutching at his useless left arm as Caster seemed to have added something to the attack that wounded it as he struggled to even stay conscious, the pain worse than anything he had ever experienced.

Well actually it was a close third, maybe second.

With this in mind Shirou managed to roll off of Saber after a moment and dragged himself into a crouch.

"Archer, what are you waiting for? Get up and attack!" Rin ordered as Shirou turned to glare at her but this proved to be a mistake as from the temple doors a storm of the beams of light slammed into him and engulfed him in a near constant explosion, the smoke it created blocking him from view.

From the doorway Caster smirked to herself as she stepped out and into view.

She was immediately forced to dodge a Gandr shot from Rin as Saber picked herself up and after a moment her grip on her sword tightened and she rushed forward.

'Now!' Archer ordered Shirou and the injuries he had acquired rapidly healed with blades sprouting from his skin for a moment before receding and he appeared between a grinning Caster and shocked Saber.

Caster's dagger stabbed into him and even as it happened a grin appeared on his face.

"Rule Breaker."

Shirou's body shook for a moment before in a flash of light the Command Spells on Rin's hand faded.

"Finally." Shirou spoke as one hand shot out and grabbed Caster by her cloak." I was wondering when you would make your move."

Without further ado a broadsword appeared in his free hand and he stabbed Caster through the stomach with it before throwing her back into the temple and pointing a finger towards it.

"I am the bone of my sword."

Countless blades appeared in the air around him and with no warning they shot forward a second later, explosions rocking the temple as the blades met their targets.

Rin's Command Spells reappeared as the temple collapsed on itself and Shirou very quickly turned and tackled both Saber and Rin off of it and as he hit the steps he rolled so that when he released Saber she came up on her feet, sprinting down the steps with Shirou grabbing Rin and racing after her.

Nearby Gilgamesh watched the temple collapse in on itself and merely shook his head at the display before turning his attention to the fleeing group.

"You mongrels never cease to amaze me." Gilgamesh commented lound enough for the three to hear him as dozens of golden portals appeared behind him, several weapons emerging from each." But your two Servants are a threat Tohsaka so it's time to die!"

"Damn!" Shirou cursed as he and Saber stopped at the weapons emerging in front of them.

"Why does she have to be here now?" Rin asked as Shirou formed his bow in one hand.

"Steel is my body and fire is my blood." Shirou called out as a special sword shifted into an arrow in his free hand." Now, die by Caladbolg King of Heroes!"

Shirou fired the arrow and it swiftly replicated itself a dozen times, each of them shooting towards Gilgamesh.

The King of Heroes merely redirected his arm to the projectiles and fired on them with them, thousands of the weapon shooting forward to intercept.

"Is that all you have Faker?" Gilgamesh demanded as he was unfazed by the explosions from the intercepted projectiles." Is that really all you can do?"

His questions were pointless to ask as the three had vanished when his attention was diverted.

Instead of becoming angry the King of Heroes merely grinned his interest growing in the Faker.

Deep in the forests surrounding the temple the three, well two, moved as fast as they could to escape Gilgamesh.

"What was that?" Rin demanded from Shirou's back who decided to answer her.

"A Broken Phantasm, interesting, right?"

With a grin at her and Saber's shocked expression he continued forward, putting as much distance as possible between the three and Gilgamesh.

At the Ryuudouji Temple Kuzuki dragged himself and Caster deeper into it, the structure stable enough to survive the collapse from Shirou's attack.

"Caster, what happened?" Kuzuki asked after laying the Servant down on a mat.

"He ignored Rule Breaker, I know I severed his contract but he wasn't under my control at all, he completely ignored it."

At the Matou household one Zouken Matou looked on at the diagram of Fuyuki he had created, stealing the designs from the church and he didn't like the way events were heading but even if his main plan failed he had several backups to right the mess it would cause.

'At least I still have my trump card, it seems I was very lucky when I picked the host.' Zouken thought, his eyes locked onto a single figure on the diagram, one he had long ago prepared as a backup to his main plan.' Soon I will have what I seek, very soon if things continue as they are.'

* * *

><p>AN: Alright, a quick note on the story here, I'm probably going to rush through the Grail Wars in the next three to four chapter, probably less, because afterwards the story will probably get more interesting.<p>

And I hope I flushed out Rin's character a bit and her reasons for what she did in this chapter, so if your wondering her backstory was changed and it'll appear in a flashback later, probably.

Well read and review on what you think on the story and if anything is confusing, I wrote this chapter sporadically so I probably messed something up so it would be helpful to know what is was.

Peace.


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: I do not own anything that appears in this story with all belonging to its respective owners and I am not attempting to or making a profit from this work of fiction.

* * *

><p>In the blackened and hazy desert Archer once more looked in the distance, twilight spreading beyond it and with a sigh he turned away from it.<p>

"This is going to have to be dealt with soon."

Shirou stopped running once he was out the forest and set Rin down before waiting for Saber to rush out and slammed her head back and into a tree with enough force to almost topple it and blood leaked down the side of her head.

Before Rin could react he had grabbed her shirt and slammed her back against a tree with one hand as the other was held out to the side and in a flash of red light Kanshou was held in it.

"What do you think you're doing, you'll die without me?" Rin demanded and Shirou didn't let his shock at the lack of fear show.

"Don't talk." Shirou ordered her with Kanshou pressed against her throat." Right now I need something to kill so where's the next Servant?"

"Shirou!"

The Magus turned to see Sakura and Rider landing in front of them so he didn't attack her, at least yet.

"Sakura, good to see you but what are you doing out here?" Shirou asked her, a smile quickly put on his face." I didn't think you would travel out here at this time."

"I felt like coming to see you and I have to ask you a question." Sakura told him and Shirou just remembered he was still holding Rin up against the tree and let her fall, hoping Sakura would ignore the odd situation she found him in.

He was wrong as Sakura gestured to Rin and Saber, the Servant slowly waking up and Rin already standing.

"I'll help you kill them if you want, we can win the Grail War together and I'll even give you the wish." Sakura told him and Shirou became very confused at the normally sweet girl volunteering to murder someone.

"Archer, deal with Rider." Rin ordered and with a short glare behind him Rin backed away and over to the now standing Saber.

"I told you not to talk." Shirou very nearly growled at her." So stay silent or I kill you."  
>"Archer?" Sakura's question drew his attention and he sighed.<p>

"It's a long story so ho…"

"He's somehow been made into her Servant." Rider told Sakura and the purple haired Master frowned.

"Then if I take her hand then Shirou would be under my control?" Sakura asked and the Magus sighed as he stepped back in time to avoid Rider's dagger from punching through his stomach.

"Rider, don't kill him, just wound him." Sakura ordered and the Servant nodded before rushing forward and attacking the currently weaponless Shirou.

A pair of silver hatchets appearing in a flash of light changed that and he was able to deflect Rider's dagger as she threw it towards him.

"Sakura?" Rin asked as the Matou Magus turned to the Tohsaka Magus.

"Rin, right?" Sakura asked and the black haired Magus nodded before having to roll out of what seemed to be a fist made of shadows shooting towards her.

"What are you doing?" Rin demanded, firing Gandr shots at Sakura only for what looked like a wall of shadows to stop them.

"Killing you!" Sakura shouted and Rin saw insanity in her eyes even as a massive featureless figure made of what seemed like shadows emerged from behind Sakura and picked her up in one massive hand before the other came down as a fist, directly on Rin.

"Master!"

Saber had shaken off her daze in time to intervene in the fight, using her own body to stop the blow from crushing Rin.

"Master, leave. Now." Saber's words weren't strained and were spoken in the way of a king so Rin very quickly obeyed as with a shout Saber had pushed up and thrown the shadow creature on its back.

The Servant swiftly drew her sword from her side and used Prana Burst as she leaped into the air, dropping down near the figure's head and cutting it in half with a single blow.

More of the figures emerged around her though only slightly taller than her now, the strengths lying in the sheer numbers that even now continued to grow and grow.

'This is going to take some time.' Saber thought with a sigh before rushing forward, cleaving three in half at the waist before turning on her heel and stabbing through another that attempted to attack from behind, it's arms shaping into blades with barbed tips.

Two others charged her from both sides and Saber chose to use Prana Burst to put her sword through several of the shadow figures in front of her before ripping her sword out from the side to cut down two more charging her from that side only to have to sidestep three others as they descended on her, long blades sprouting from their entire body and seeking to skewer and cage Saber at once.

'What are these creatures?' Saber asked herself even as she cut down three that were grouped together with a single slash.' They are not truly evil creatures, sealed or not Excalibur would harm them by being in their presence.'

Rin dodged another bolt of what looked to be the same substance making up the small army keeping Saber away from her.

"Sakura, what happened to you?" Rin asked as she rolled out of the way of another blast, it burrowing into the ground beneath her before it exploded as blades, attempting to skewer her but it failed.

"You left me there with those people!" Sakura snapped and Rin was nearly struck by a hammer shaped out of the substance.

"I wanted to protect you, the Magus Asso…" Rin couldn't finish as the substance shaped into three figures that attacked her relentlessly.

An arrow pierced all of them and pinned them to a tree before a spear slammed through their heads, keeping them there.

"What, that's not possible, how are you doing this?" Sakura demanded, shocked as she saw the figures actually trapped and her enraged question was directed at Rin before she was forced to dodge a knife thrown at her feet.

Shirou landed in front of Rin with his back to her and a pair of silver longswords in his hands, held with the tips pointed upwards at his side.

"Are you sure you're a genius Rin?" Shirou asked her." I could probably take on both of them by myself but instead of calling me over you try to fight her? I mean come on, don't be that stupid, it could get you killed in this war."

"Shirou?" Sakura asked and the Magus frowned as he looked into her eyes.

"Sakura, what's wrong with your eyes?"

"What do you mean, they were fine this morning?"

He was suddenly in front of her and holding one of the swords up to her face, the blade widening to act as a makeshift mirror and showed Sakura's normally purple eyes had red spreading throughout them.

"Why are they red?"

His question wouldn't be answered as the chain on one of Rider's daggers wrapped around his throat and she pulled him into the air and slammed him into the ground moments later, Shirou's hands struggling to get the chain off the entire time.

"Master, I will handle this Servant, deal with his Master." Rider called back to Sakura before rushing towards where Shirou had landed, somewhere in the forest the three had exited from.

It seemed like whatever was happening in Sakura once she saw the change in her eyes was gone and was replaced with nothing but pure hatred and it was all directed towards Rin.

"He called you Master, right?" Sakura asked Rin who didn't offer any response, shocked at the level of power suddenly emitting from Sakura." Then you even took him from me!"

Rin had no time to think about what Sakura had said as she was attacked by a dozen of the shadow figures, all of them summoned with a wave of Sakura's hand and they attacked relentlessly and without exhausting themselves.

'What the hell is going on with her?' Rin asked herself even as several Gandr shots took down most of the figures in seconds and the rest were dealt with the arriving Saber, cutting all of them down before they could reach the Tohsaka Magus.

"Master, perhaps we should retreat." Saber told her, her invisible sword held in a guard stance in front of her." She seems to be able to summon an army at will."

"You're right, we need to go get Archer through so try to hold her off while I find him." Rin told her Servant before turning and sprinting into the forest, Reinforcement giving her enough speed to find Shirou in a minute of searching.

He ducked under the sweeping swing of Rider's chain dagger before sidestepping the second one she fired towards his feet but the unexpected third one swung at him wrapped around his waist and he cursed as Rider used it to slam him into a tree which toppled over at the force he hit it with.

A pair of rapiers slipped between the links and kept it from moving again as they stabbed into the ground before Shirou threw several knives that lengthened into spears in midair before a pair of short swords appeared in his hands and he cut the chain and raced forward towards Rider only for the Servant to evade his charge and rapid slashes towards her and threw two chain daggers at him, the two swinging towards him with one high and the other low. Shirou very quickly shifted the short swords into broadswords as he flipped one of the changing short swords into a reverse grip, each sword stopping a chain blade but completely covering themselves in the chains as they swung around them.

"Damn." Shirou cursed as Rider pulled on the chains before he could let the swords go so he was pulled forward with them and a foot slammed into his face moments later before Rider acted faster than he could see and his falling body was wrapped in chains as the Servant had drawn two more chain daggers after letting the two wrapped around his weapons go.

This was the scene Rin arrived to and she mentally cursed before a Gandr shot slammed into Rider as she grabbed Shirou and using the enhanced strength Reinforcement gave her she threw him onto his shoulder and moved as fast as she could with the added weight.

"Rin, just get these things off me, she's going to kill you if you keep this up!" Shirou was immediately dropped and a sword appeared in Rin's hand with a slight strain on Shirou's part.

Rin lifted it above her head and brought it down moments later with it easily cutting through the chains while stopping against his armor as the sword was covered in a red light and vanished seconds later.

"Alright, let's go." Shirou moved faster than Rin could see and threw her over one shoulder before leaping and landed next to Saber a few seconds later.

The Servant was struggling to keep any of Sakura's shadow creatures from entering the forest and had succeeded in it but was growing exhausted at the seemingly limitless number in front of her and it kept growing a dozen more every moment.

Shirou grabbed her moments later and threw her over his shoulder to join Rin and Saber had dismissed her armor after observing her situation and let out a relieved sigh as Shirou's next jump slightly cratered the ground and she observed what seemed to be an amateur and uncontrolled use of her Prana Burst.

'So, that's your plan?' Archer asked after Shirou explained his plan.

'It's the best I've got.' Shirou answered with a mental shrug of his shoulder and Archer sighed.

'You are going to kill yourself sooner than later, you know that?' Archer asked with another sigh and Shirou merely chuckled, confusing both Rin and Saber as he seemingly chuckled at nothing.

'He's lost it.' Rin thought with a sigh.' That war's finally gotten to him.'

Shirou finally stopped and let the two down at large hill around a kilometer from Sakura and Rider.

"I am the bone of my sword."

Shirou was consumed in a red light that quickly formed itself into his normal bow.

"Steel is my body and fire is my blood."

Red light consumed Shirou again before it faded to show a quiver filled with arrows on his back with one in his hands.

"Both of you, stand back and don't get any closer from where you are." Shirou ordered them as he drew one of the arrows, the arrow pitch black with and had a barbed look to it.

Shirou used Reinforcement on the bow and pulled its back to the limit before notching the arrow.

"I have created over a thousand blades. Now fly, Hrunting."

The bow was further strengthened and Shirou pulled it back further as his eyes found his target and he released the bowstring.

An instant later and a flash of red light Shirou's quiver was empty and he turned away as a massive explosion erupted into existence in the distance.

"Archer, what was that?" Rin asked and Shirou sighed as he walked down the hill.

He didn't know how long it would take Rin to understand but he wouldn't answer to Archer.

The sound of a sword coming out of its sheath drew his attention behind him and it allowed him to dodge a chain dagger swung at him from the side.

"What, how are you still alive?" Shirou demanded in shock, his attack should have killed them and he knew it.

"I have my ways." Sakura's voice answered as an army of the shadow figures appeared around him and more surrounded Rin and Saber.

'This…this is unexpected.' Archer commented and Shirou felt a surge of energy through his body.' Perhaps it's time to use my Noble Phantasm?'

'Yeah, that would be good but kind of bad.'

'Why?'

'I can save it for when we fight Berserker again or when Rin orders Saber to kill me.'

'I doubt that. Rin probably won't kill you with Saber, she'll let Berserker do it when we face him and Illyasveil again.'

'Not helping.'

'I know and dodge to the left.'

Shirou did so and avoided a spear of shadows that would have nearly killed him and he quickly held a pair of axes in his hands.

"What is going on here, what are these things?" Shirou called up to Rin only to see Saber having thrown her over her shoulder as she dealt not only with the army attacking her but with Rider as well.

Shirou quickly formed his bow and fired three arrows up at Rider that forced her back before he had to discard it as several of the shadow figures grabbed it.

'Okay, how long with it take to activate?' Shirou asked and Archer sighed.

'I was one word away from finishing it when we fought Saber and Rin.' Archer told him and Shirou nodded and was about to rushed up to Saber and Rin when the shadow figures around him all suddenly charged him and they formed around him, losing their shape and melding together as they did so.

Explosions erupted inside it, tossing it away from Shirou but it simply flowed back towards him only for the Sword Magus to repel it again but it closed in on the third attempt, waves forming from all sides around him and forming a dome he wouldn't be escaping from as more now began filling it. Shirou very quickly came to a decision on what to do and leapt up to the dome with a pair of katana appearing in his hands.

'I can't get free.' Shirou thought in some panic, his weapons breaking apart, seemingly rusting in seconds, the moment he tried to cut his way out and the substance took on tar-like properties as he found it harder and harder to move anything caught but it, be it weapons or his body as tendrils rose up from what was below him and he found it impossible to free his hand from it once they caught one.

'What is this stuff in the first place?' Shirou asked Archer as he was pulled to the ground and slammed into it with waves crashing down on him moments later.

'I have no idea, I've never encountered this before in my life.' Archer spoke after a moment with another surge of energy to Shirou.' Just use my Noble Phantasm and we'll deal with this.'

"I a…" that was as far as Shirou got in the chant before the substance flooded his mouth and he found himself choking on it as it poured down his throat while forcing his mouth to remain open no matter how hard he tried to close it.

Suddenly it ended and Shirou collapsed on the ground, coughing and sputtering as he tried to cough out something that was no longer there.

"What the hell?" Shirou asked as he stopped coughing and slowly dragged himself up." What the hell was that?"

"Me."

Shirou turned to see Sakura standing nearby and was shocked enough at her statement that he nearly fell off his feet.

"What?" Shirou couldn't find anything else to say besides that one word and Sakura giggled at him.

"Shirou, I'm probably the strongest person in this war, I can do a lot of things you wouldn't know about." Sakura told him and Shirou took a step back when she stepped forward.

"Why are you running from me Shirou?" Sakura tilted her head to the side as she asked and Shirou found himself unnerved by the red filling her eyes.

"What's happening to you Sakura, don't you see whatever this power is, is changing you?" Shirou's question was answered by laughter from Sakura.

"You're one to talk, last time I saw you I'm pretty sure you had red hair and brown eyes and the next time I see you with white hair and gray eyes and you've gotten a tan, so Shirou, what happened to you?" Sakura had very easily turned Shirou's questions around.

"I made a mistake, I still don't know how I've got this power but I haven't gon…" Shirou couldn't finish his sentence as Sakura broke into laughter once again.

"A mistake, that's really the best you could call it?" Sakura asked him before waved one hand towards him." You've merged with a Servant, it's not hard to see from all the power you've gained."

"Archer, ignore her!" Rin called down to him as Saber landed next to him with Rider landing behind Sakura, the dozen injuries Saber had inflicted on her already healing." She's lost it and o…"

"Shut up!" Sakura snapped as Shirou noticed the red very quickly filling her eyes.

The shadow figures appeared around them all again and both Shirou and Saber cursed as they were about to attack when Sakura called them off from attacking with a wave of her hand.

"Shirou, I can give you a chance to surrender and help me." Sakura told him as she walked up to him and the Sword Magus only stared at her for a moment before glancing back at Rin and Saber.

"I am the bone of my sword."

Kanshou and Bakuya appeared in his hands and without further warning he rushed forward at speeds to fast to be seen but the chain attached to Rider's weapon wrapped around his hands and bound them together.

"Steel is my body and fire is my blood."

Weapons covered in a red glow shot forward from behind him and kept Rider form attacking him as she leapt back to avoid them.

Several of the weapons grazed the chains and they fell to the ground before Shirou held his hands out in front of him and a crossbow appeared in each.

"I have created over a thousand blades."

He fired a bolt from each and managed to pin Rider's shoulders to the ground before a single claymore appeared in his hands and he rushed towards the pinned Servant only to be intercepted by a horde of the shadow figures as Rider tore herself fear and returned to Sakura's side.

"Unknown to Death,"

Shirou turned the crossbows into a pair or broadswords he cut apart nearly a dozen of the figures before he leapt over them and threw both swords down, explosions tearing apart a piece of the army.

"Nor known to Life."

Kanshou and Bakuya appeared in his hands and he hesitated for a moment as he landed between a group of the shadow figures.

'I really hate to use these blades for something like this.' Shirou thought with a sigh.

'Then use something else.' Archer told him as the swords vanished in a flash of red light before being replaced by a handful of knives in each hand, each one proving to be explosive once they hit anything.

"Have withstood pain to create many weapons."

Shirou rolled out of the way of a wave of the shadow substance as a few dozen of the shadow figures had merged together into it before forming it into a massive version of themselves that towered over Shirou.

Shirou's bow appeared in one hand and he held three swords rapidly shifting into arrows in the other. He fired them immediately and the resulting explosion tossed the large figure onto its back where Shirou blew its head off as his bow shifted into a ballista that fired a rain of bolts into it.

"Yet those hands will never hold anything."

The Magus/Servant leapt back to avoid a dozen of the shadow figures charging him and cleared a spot for him to land with several dozen throwing knives that exploded, each knife aimed to take out several targets so he had breathing space when he landed.

"So as I pray…"

The shadow figures around him all collapsed into a puddle of the substance that formed them and quickly merged into a crushing wave that engulfed Shirou moments later, cutting off his chant.

"Saber, get him out!" Rin ordered her Servant and the King of Knights nodded before racing forward, using Prana Burst to increase her speed and releasing Invisible Air behind her at an angle to rocket into the air.

"Ex.." the Sword of Promised Victory was released and the blade drew in Prana as Saber drew it back."…calibur!"

A wave of light launched from her swing and the wave that had crushed Shirou was destroyed moments later, eradicated by the Holy Light unleashed by the Sword of Promised Victory.

Saber had quickly sealed her weapon once again and landed on the ground as Shirou slowly picked himself off the ground, wincing even as the blades knitted his body back together and coughing to clear his lungs.

"Kill him, kill him, kill him!" Sakura snapped and the army around Shirou charged him, the bodies turning themselves into horrific looking weapons but the Magus was unperturbed by it, not even a weapon in his hands.

"So as I pray, Unlimited Blade Works."

Flames consumed Shirou and were spreading, consuming everything but neither Rin, Saber, Rider, or Sakura felt anything as the flames washed over them, consuming them and placing them into the middle of a inferno, well Sakura wouldn't have noticed anything anyway as she screamed incoherently for a moment before she composed herself, albeit very, very, very little.

"Kill him, crush him, rip him to pieces, do whatever you want I just don't want to see him again!" Sakura screamed and the substance of shadows moved to do as she commanded, forming into a single being that seemed to tear open a mouth that was sown together and roaring, showing a mouth filled with rows and rows of crimson stained teeth before it rushed forward, showing no restraint or planning and if any it was shaping its arms into long barbed blades.

Shirou only smirked as the flames raging around them all finally died down to show a desert of blackened sand covered in the haze forging would cause and coloring the sky with it as countless massive gears hung above them.

All around the city any Master, Servant, or Magus in general felt the overwhelming power the Noble Phantasm emitted once it was activated and this drew them there, all with varying thoughts on the matter.

Gilgamesh simply smirked as he walked along a path in the forest, the path taking him directly to the fight.

Lancer followed his Master as the two ran towards what was obvious a Noble Phantasm.

Illyasveil had ordered Berserker to carry her towards the fight, aiming to kill who ever had unleashed the Noble Phantasm.

Caster, with effort, took her and Kuzuki to it, against Kuzuki's argument to remain where they were so she could regain her strength.

One Zouken Matou merely grinned from a room in the basement of his manor, satisfied his plan would draw to completion sooner than even he had thought such a short time ago.

"This generation is truly very interesting." Zouken spoke to himself as he saw what was very likely the endgame of this Grail War as all those he had deemed as important showed on his diagram and all were converging at a single location." If I had known so much could be accomplished at that time I would have done much more."

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><p>AN: Well, this part of the story will probably finish next chapter or the one after that so leave any reviews on either the ending of the Grail War Arc or pairing for later on in the story.<p>

Peace.


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: I do not own anything appearing in this story with it all belonging to its respective owners and I am not attempting to or making a profit in any way shape or form from this work of fiction.

Alright note here, this chapter is probably disorganized and I didn't have the time to proof read it, sorry if you find any typos.

* * *

><p>"Archer, what is this!" Rin asked Shirou who seemed to ignore her as he held one of his hands out in front of him.<p>

"Saber, don't try to interfere, I can handle both of them now." Shirou turned his head to see Saber lowering her weapon and stepping back and he quickly turned his attention to Rider and the shadow creature Sakura had created.

"I am the bone of my sword."

A black bow appeared in his hands and an arrow joining it and formed from a sword.

"Hrunting."

The transformed sword was named and the black arrow shot forward before turning into, the best comparisons, a bullet, or better yet, a missile.

Shirou didn't wait to see what happened as another sword appeared in his hands with this one having a spiraling blade and it quickly turned into another arrow.

"Caladbolg."

The transformed second arrow actually outpaced the first and Shirou saw two explosions strike nothing as Sakura was pulled out of the way of his shots by Rider as the shadow figure charged his position.

"Idiot." Shirou muttered as in a flash of light he had notched three more black arrows and fired them." Hrunting."

The shadow figure avoided them only for the arrows to turn around to strike it, throwing it forward as Shirou readied another arrow, this one a pure red.

"Gae Bolg."

The arrow was fired high into the air before coming down as a countless number that covered the area in front of Shirou and they were charged with energy.

At this point Shirou was panting from the attack but pointed a single finger at the shadow creature that seemed to persist in its attack no matter what he did to it. The many arrows in the ground rose out of it and were invisible to the eye as they launched forward and locked onto the figure.

Shirou let his bow vanish in a flash of light and let out a sigh of relief before the shadow figure rushed him and grabbed him by his head and slammed him into the ground with enough force to kill. The Magus was only dazed thanks to instinctive Reinforcement but the shadow figure shifted its arms into spiked maces that it slammed into Shirou, doing its best to turn him into little more than a bloody smear. Through it was stopped before it could do so by several swords shooting forward and throwing it off and Shirou laid there for a moment, his body healing but it was slower than he would like.

"This is going to take some time." Shirou muttered as he turned to Saber." You should probably stay next to Rin for this entire thing."

An arrow flew by Shirou's shoulder and would have pierced Saber's heart is she hadn't grabbed it and snapped it in half from her grip.

"On second thought I don't."

Shirou didn't answer her confused look as he turned around with his arms held out at his sides.

"I am the bone of my sword."

Two voices seemed speak the phase in unison and moments later Kanshou and Bakuya appeared in Shirou's hands and he rushed forward, dodging the attacking shadow figure as he raced forward and straight towards Sakura.

"Why aren't you dead?" Sakura asked quietly before turning to Rider." Why haven't you killed him?"

"I will attempt Master." Rider spoke after a moment and rushed forward, attacking Shirou head on with a chain dagger in each hand and thrown forward, aimed to stab into Shirou's sides only for Bakuya to deflect both as Shirou then threw Kanshou forward and it swung around Rider before striking her from behind and it exploded, throwing the Servant straight towards Shirou where he put Bakuya through Rider's stomach before forcing the blade up and drawing it out as Rider's throat, managing to almost cut her in half.

Shirou pushed down the already healing body before dodging the shadow figure as it attacked from behind and a new Kanshou appeared in his hands before he threw both blades, Bakuya straight towards the shadow figure and piercing it through the chest and Kanshou sweeping around to strike it through the back. Moments later Shirou leapt back as the two swords exploded and formed his bow in one hand with a flash of red light covering his free hand with three arrows appearing in it before aiming and firing them all at once moments later. The arrows were almost impossible to see at their speed and Rider only managed to avoid two of them, both aimed to strike her shoulders, with the last too close to dodge so she instead brought her arm up to block it, allowing it to be impaled near her wrist.

'Damn.' Shirou mentally cursed as his bow faded and he leapt back to avoid Rider's pair of chain daggers from taking out his eyes.

Rider ripped the arrow out of her arm while Shirou dodged her daggers and the wound healed itself.

"Alright, this is going to take some time then." Shirou told Rider at the sight of the Servant even standing after his attack with Kanshou and doing his best to cut her in half.

He held his arms out to his side and red light took the form of a pair of rapiers in his hands as flashes of red appeared in the air behind him.

"Master, maybe I should assist Shirou?" Saber asked Rin who waved her off." I may be bes…"

"Archer can probably handle this since he's using his Noble Phantasm so it'll take a few more minutes at best, if he doesn't and ends up about to die than you can jump in and save him." Rin told her Servant who sheathed her sword after a moment.

"If this ends badly then it will be on you." Saber told Rin before watching the fight once again.

Shirou charged Rider with the red light behind him fading to show a multitude of weapons hanging in the air and growing in number before with a flick of his wrist the weapons shot forward, shooting towards Rider who didn't try to dodge them as a black blob suddenly sprung up between her and the attack.

"What the hell?" Shirou asked, stopping himself as the shadow figure reformed from its blob state.

Shirou sent another wave of weapons forward as he retreated before Kanshou and Bakuya appeared in his hands and once seeing an opening he raced forward and bisected the shadow figure at the waist and removed its head at the same time while dodging Rider's kick from the side, aimed to actually kick him in half, and respond with Bakuya thrown at her while Kanshou stabbed down into the shadow figure's falling head and kept it on the ground as Shirou called another pair of the swords to his hands and threw them out at the side. The black Kanshou spun towards Rider while the white Bakuya slammed into the top of the shadow figure's head to keep it from moving and separate its head into more pieces as well with the blades impacting Rider exploding.

Shirou would guess the fight would end with both his opponents down only to be mistaken as Rider charged out of the smoke and attacked him, tossing him back with a kick to his chest that sent him slamming into a dune of sand and scattering it into the air.

"I am the bone of my sword." Shirou whispered before a new pair of Kanshou and Bakuya appeared in his hands and he kicked up to his feet before charging forward only for the shadow figure to reform and regenerate itself and hit him with arms changed into large hammers, tossing him into the ground some distance away and Shirou quickly pulled himself back to his feet, getting angry at this point but he quickly calmed down and after a moment sprinted forward.

"Alright, you're better than I thought!" Shirou told the two as Kanshou was thrown forward and would have taken off Sakura's head if Rider hadn't intervened and knocked it aside with one of her chain dagger and the other shot forward only for Shirou to knock it into the air with Bakuya as Kanshou arced back and he grabbed it in his hands.

"Kill him, kill him, KILL HIM!" Sakura screamed and Shirou threw both blades forward before grabbing a gold and black hilted longsword from nearby and rushing forward, allowing Rider to wrap a chain dagger around it before pulling it back and stabbing her through the stomach with it before an axe appeared in his hands and he buried it into her spine as he sidestepped her falling body.

Rider through sprang off her hands when she was about to hit the ground and charged Shirou from behind only for an arrow to pierce her throat moments later. The Servant attempted to continue to fight only for more arrows to turn her into something very similar to a hedgehog in moments.

"Shirou, kill her now!" Archer ordered as he dismissed his bow before sliding down the dune of sand he had shot from." I've got your back here!"

Sakura stepped back to avoid Shirou's lunge with a spear appearing in his hands before he was forced to dodge the shadow figure's attack from behind.

Shirou leaped up to dodge its wild swings and caught Bakuya and Kanshou as flew back into his hands and he turned them into explosives and shot towards the shadow figure which shaped its arms into massive blades made to rip things in to pieces. Shirou of course wasn't planning on dying in the explosion hiss words would cause so at the last possible second of his charge and right before he would have met the shadow figure's blades with his own he let Kanshou and Bakuya slip out of his hands and rolled as he hit the ground before sprinting off to escape the explosion that the two swords released when they struck the ground.

"Well, that was easy." Shirou commented only to have to dodge Rider's chain daggers before Archer tackled her from the side and they rolled in the sand with Archer's pair of daggers going against Rider's chain version.

"It's still alive dumbass!" Archer called back to him as both of his feet threw Rider away." It won't die that easily!"

"Damn." Shirou cursed as the smoke cleared to show the creature reforming itself even as it charged Shirou, its arms shaping themselves into lethal looking axes.

Archer charged Rider with a claymore flying into his hands and Rider chose to dodge the heavy two-handed blows that would shatter her arm if they stuck.

"I don't have time for this, let me take off your head already!" Archer snapped, losing his patience with the Servant.

Rider was silent and Archer cursed as he was thrown to the side by a kick as the after image faded away, Rider's extreme speed letting her pull something like that off.

'Damn, this is going to get annoying.' Archer thought even as he threw the claymore and a spear appeared in each hand before he shot forward as Rider dodge the sword and the two spears would have taken out her head but she avoided them and lashed out with her daggers, Archer cursing as he was barely able to dodge before a longsword appeared in one hand and in the other a crossbow appeared.

A bolt that turned out to be explosive tossed Rider to the side even as she dodged it and Archer aimed to punch through her heart for the Servant to stop his blow while airborne and dazed before she used their locked blades to flip and her heel would have caved in his head if he hadn't let the sword go and fired another bolt form the crossbow and a storm of swords followed it moments later.

Hoping he brought enough time the Servant concentrated.

'Shirou, I have a plan.'

'Busy right now.'

'That doesn't matter, now listen.'

Shirou ducked under a swing from a massive axe the shadow figure's arms had merged into. Spikes sprouted from its legs and would have torn open Shirou's entire stomach if a shield hadn't blocked it, the defense shattering to pieces in seconds but the short delay was all Shirou needed to get around the figure and Shirou threw his arms out to the side and with blinding flash dozens of swords hung around the shadow figure in everywhere direction.

"Die. Now." Shirou growled as he brought his hands down and the explosive swords slammed into the shadow figure only for it to charge out, its body smoking but unaffected as it healed.

'That's it?' Shirou asked as Archer finished explaining his plan and the Servant mentally sighed.

'It's on the spot just get it done.' Archer ordered him as he attacked Rider with Kanshou and Bakuya, cutting her to pieces in the sudden violent attack.' And please survive it all, I don't feel like being stuck with that Rin girl as a Master.'

The shadow figure charged Shirou while it screamed something incoherent and the Magus ignored it as a halberd appeared in his hands and he cut off its head before knives buried into its chest as he held his hands out in front of him as a red glow consumed them.

'And you're sure this is going to work?' Shirou asked, surprised the weapon forming in the light matched the image in his mind so well, it a perfect copy of what was obvious a Noble Phantasm, his own previous attempt at the same weapon less than stellar as he remembered the several flaws in the spear that lead to a decrease in its power, nearly a third of it gone.

'Fifty-fifty chance really but it will kill it, the spear is cursed.' Archer answered before having to dodge one of Sakura's shadow creatures from impaling him, the Matou Magus sent three or four dozen to delay him for a few minutes.

Moments later and with the light fading a red spear appeared in them and moments later he turned and threw it at Sakura. Well he would have if the shadow figure hadn't attacked him from behind and tried its hardest to rip his arm off and from the way it was showing its teeth probably eat it too.

The replicated Gae Bolg found its way towards the creature and pinning it to the ground as Shirou held his now bleeding shoulder.

"Archer, what the hell?" Shirou demanded as the Servant in his head grabbed him by his other arm and pulled him out of a healed Rider's attack from his side with the wounded arm, making it harder to block or deflect it." I thought you were watching my back?"

"I never said I would save you from stupidity." Archer answered as with a flash of red he held a pair of silver longswords in hand and Shirou soon copied him, only able to currently summon one as his arm healed rather slowly from the shadow figure's attempt to rip it off.

"Since these share identical styles we will have to work in tandem and since you've allowed foolishness to injure your arm I'll be doing most of the work." Archer told Shirou as he stepped forward." You can watch my back, not too hard a task as I will be keeping both of them in front of me."

"Got it." Shirou answered as the two rushed forward with intention to end this here.

The shadow figure charged forward as Rider stepped back and prepared to attack once given an opening.

Archer attacked first, charging the shadow figure as its arms changed into a pair of scythes that were swung wildly and without technique, something Archer was accustomed to and quickly resolved the problem by cutting off the creature's arms. He wasn't that shocked when it regenerated a second later with its arms now sharpened blades able to clash with Archer's own.

'So that's it?' Archer asked himself as he parried a blow with one sword and stepped forward with the other, missing his stab at the shadow figure's heart as it spun out of the way before attacking from the side only to have its arm cut off below the elbow, the creature screeching as it stumbled away from Archer before falling to the side at the sudden shift in weight.' It's a very malleable substance shaped into different forms for different tasks, impressive Sakura, even if you're bat shit insane right now.'

Shirou stepped forward once the shadow figure was down and blocked Rider's two chain daggers as she threw them forward with hi longsword as Archer then rushed forward and cut the chains connecting the nail like dagger to Rider's hands. The Servant cursed as she was forced to run from Archer before the shadow figure pulled itself back to its feet and charged Archer from behind with its arms shifting into something resembling scimitars only for Shirou to cut off its arms once again and then sweep down and do the same to its legs before lunging forward and stabbing through its neck and pulling to the side as it fell to remove its head with Archer attacking from the side in a blur of movement that shredded the body.

Rider attacked at this point but met two identical boots that threw her back with both then sending a volley of swords towards her.

"Is it dead?" Shirou asked as he looked down where the shadow figure was torn to pieces with Archer slipping behind him and shifted his mostly healed arm back into place in an instant, the arm having been dislocated when it was injured.

The surprise of it helped deal with the pain it brought and Archer stopped Shirou from falling from it by grabbing his sleeve and pulling him back up.

"Done yet?" Archer asked and Shirou growled.

"I hate you."

"The feelings mutual, now get yourself ready."

The shadow figure attacked with no warning only to be cut down by Shirou and Archer as Shirou then shifted his longswords into a spear as he brought his hands together and threw it forward, striking Rider in the side and the barbed spear tearing a piece of her out as it flew past as he then filled his hands with knives that he threw towards the shadow figure, hopefully killing it in the resulting explosion. Archer had moved up a nearby dune and formed his bow as he crouched with his eyes locked onto Rider as she healed from Shirou's attack.

"I am the bone of my sword."

A single arrow appeared in his hands and he quickly fired it at Rider, a Noble Phantasm he didn't care to remember besides knowing it was a sword turning into an arrow and a Broken Phantasm that engulfed Rider and most other things nearby in an explosion.

'Rider should be down for some time, the kid couldn't use it properly so his lacked power, mine don't.'

Archer was gone and next to Shirou again at the perfect time. With a nearly deafening screech the shadow figure pulled itself back together and charged forward, swinging its arms wildly as they shifted from weapon to weapon. Sometimes they were an axe, other times they were a scythe, and at other times they were anything ranging from a simple blade to a mace head.

Archer formed a pair of axes to take off its arms as Shirou lunged forward and with his two longswords broke its guard and threw its arms out to the side for Archer to strike. The creature merely roared as the axes bounced off of its suddenly too strong form and it slammed its head into Shirou, sending him flying back in a daze and crashing into Archer who caught him in one arm as he threw both axes forward and they sunk into the creature's chest even as a volley of weapons struck it from all sides as Archer rolled as he hit the ground and once he could get to his feet he threw the dazed Shirou into a ridiculously large sword you would only see in an anime.

'Why do I even have that one?' Archer asked himself as Shirou's arms shot out and he stopped himself from striking the blade by grabbing the hilt and with effort threw it forward moments later, it heading straight towards Archer.

The Servant dodged it with little effort, more subconscious than anything else, and the massive sword slammed into the shadow figure as it tried to sneak up behind him. The blade shattered into countless pieces on impact but succeeded in throwing the creature back and Archer and Shirou both capitalized.

"Caladbolg!"

Two of the sword turned into an arrow shot forward and slammed into the shadow figure one after the other, tearing away parts of it in the resulting explosion and Shirou and Archer both leapt back and waited for the figure to charge out of the explosion and they weren't disappointed. The shadow figure let out a roar as it rushed towards them with no plan at all.

"There has to be a limit, at some point, right?" Shirou asked Archer as a pair of longswords appeared in his hands.

"I honestly have no idea."

A spear appeared in Archer's hands in a flash of light and he threw it forward at turning it into a bomb, throwing the shadow figure into the air where Shirou threw his two swords at it, both exploding once they impaled the creature. It was thrown to the ground and Archer pulled a nearby sword out of the ground before rushing forward with Shirou following him. At least until he was stopped by a kick to the chest throwing him back as Rider followed after him, grabbing him by the throat in midair and slamming him into the sand with her other hand spinning a chain dagger before bringing it down on Shirou, aiming to slit his throat or something else close to or just fatal. Shirou managed to bring one of his hands up in time to allow the dagger to run across his arm and in his other he formed a katana that he slammed through Rider's side and he ripped it out through her back, cutting her spine and she went limp for the moment. Shirou quickly threw her off and sent a volley of swords after her only for the Servant to heal in time to avoid the majority of them but quickly left to heal and strike again when Shirou had formed his bow and was ready to fire an arrow at her.

"Shirou, stay alert!" Archer shouted at him as the shadow figure charged the Magus only for the arrow to instead be shot at it when it was bringing its scythe like arm down to take off one of Shirou's.

The explosion from the arrow threw it away and Shirou skidded back as Archer appeared behind him and kept him from moving any further with a hand on his back.

"You're better than I thought." Archer spoke after a moment before pushing Shirou to the side and catching one of Rider's chain daggers with his hands while Shirou called a pair of scimitars to his hands in time to block the shadow figure's attack seconds before it would have killed him and then removed its arms with two blades he called from nearby cutting them off from above.

Archer appeared behind the shadow figure and swung his chain covered fist, swinging Rider into the shadow figure and throwing them both back as two blades shot down from above and cut the chains before he could be pulled along with them. His bow formed with the chains around his hands falling away and he fired two arrows with each hitting a head each.

"So, any idea on how to kill that thing?" Shirou asked and Archer shrugged before Kanshou and Bakuya appeared in his hands and moments later changed into Overedge.

"I have one." Archer told him as Shirou recognized what was about to happen and charged after Archer as he sprinted forward.

"It's going to have to have perfect timing."

"Then get ready."

Archer rushed ahead and past the two as Shirou used Reinforcement to catch up to the two as he copied Archer's blades.

"Nine Lives."

Moments later Archer and Shirou's blades shattered against one another as Rider and Sakura's shadow creature collapsed to the ground and for now unmoving.

"Well, that might have worked." Shirou's words had him stepping away from Archer's blow to his head.

"We're nowhere near done, they'll heal from that." Archer told him as he looked at his smoking hands." I hoped to eradicate them with the nine blades but it failed."

"It could have worked if you would have told me we were going to be blowing up a sword each strike, I only caught on at the sixth hit I think." Shirou told him and Archer succeeded in hitting him over the head the next second.

"I thought you would figure it out, now get ready for another one." Archer ordered as the shadow creature let out a roar as it rose to its feet with Rider already gone from the sand." We'll attack it together this time."

"And Rider?" Shirou asked and Archer merely pointed to the side were swords rained down on a single figure in the distance, pinning them down for now.

"Then let's go." Shirou told him as he raced forward, calling Kanshou and Bakuya to his hands and using the same combination of Overedge with Berserker's axe sword as before.

Archer followed him and the two split at the last second, Archer appearing behind the shadow figure with Shirou appearing in front of him.

"Nine Lives."

Shirou immediately collapsed seconds later with his hands and most of his arms turned black despite the armor Archer had supplied at the last second for both of them.

"Yeah, it takes some getting used to but it works against something like this." Archer told him as he glanced at his smoking slightly burned hands.

'I put more power into that attack than I intended, my hands are actually burned from it.'

Archer decided to ignore his thoughts when he was suddenly ran threw by the shadow figure's arms turned into blades that tore a part of Archer's chest out with it when they were ripped out. The Servant growled as he spun around despite his injuries and grabbed the creature.

Shirou wordlessly understood the plan and so a storm of blades descended on the figure with chains wrapping around Archer's waist and pulling him out of harm's way at the last possible second.

Explosions rocked the ground nearby and both let out a sigh of relief at the sight before the shadow figure rushed out of the smoke the swords detonating created and both cursed as they called a pair of longswords to their hands.

"What will kill this thing?" Shirou asked as he then rolled out of the way of Rider's chain daggers from the side while Archer changed his longswords into a pair of scimitars as Shirou spun weapons identical to Rider's in his hands.

"This is going to take all day, give me time and I can bring them down for good." Archer told Shirou who nodded and his weapons shifted into claymores that seemed impossible to wield with one hand but he managed.

"Shirou, why don't you like me?" Sakura's sudden question and the fact that her voice was from right behind Shirou shocked both as Archer made the mistake of turning around, even if it was to attack her.

With a snarl the shadow figure attacked him from behind by pouncing on his back, its feet turning into the talons of a hawk and cutting through Archer's armor and reaching the skin underneath. Archer responded by a rain of swords falling on the figure, tearing it to pieces and off his back before Rider attacked him, the chains of two of her daggers wrapping around Archer and pulling him back.

'This isn't possible, I've worked the kid into using Unlimited Blade Works so this should be simple. So why are they even stronger than before, how is Rider even a match for me?'

Archer leapt back to avoid Rider's next attack and the sand around him on the dune he landed on was risen into the air as a dozen ballista rose out of the ground around him.

'I think I'll borrow a line from Gilgamesh here.' Archer thought with a small grin as he aimed the loaded ballista at Rider and the shadow figure.

"Know your place filthy mongrels, beneath my heel!" Archer shouted down to the two as with a swipe of his hand the ballista fired and from his modifications over the years they created a rain of projectiles on Rider and the shadow figure.

Nearby the King of Heroes felt a disturbance, one strong enough that he stopped walking near the edge of the forest.

'Someone just stole my line.'

Archer grinned as he saw the two fail to avoid the barrage.

'No wonder he talked like that, when you can do stuff like this you can say whatever you want and back it up.' Archer thought as the shadow figure roared and screeched at it was torn apart by his attack with Rider having already escaped it.

"Shirou, you didn't answer my question."

The somehow innocent and sweet tone Sakura spoke had to be some type of magic as he found himself questioning why he didn't answer.

"Why don't you want to be mine?"

Shirou found it impossible to speak, his mind growing blank as Sakura's arms wrapped around his waist and she rested her head over his shoulder.

"Shirou, don't you dare be an idiot!" Archer shouted at him as he formed his bow and loaded a special arrow when the shadow figure attacked him, shattering his arm with its arms combined into a single massive hammer they slammed into him from the side, throwing him into the sand and sending him skidding across it like a stone across water.

"Shirou, ignore everything but me right now."

Shirou found himself doing that as he turned his head to see the purple haired girl and found it growing harder and harder to think clearly if at all at the sight of her.

"We can sit down if you want, it looks like you're not feeling well."

'…' that was the status of Shirou's thought at this point, nonexistent as he obeyed Sakura and sat on the sand with the Magus following him, smiling as she looked at Shirou and smiling wider at the glazed look in his eyes.

"Good Shirou."

'How does this thing keep reforming?' Archer asked himself before driving a dagger into the creature's head and then cutting it in half vertically with a claymore falling down from above.

"Die already!" Archer snapped as he kicked the shadow figure away before pointing his movable arm towards the figure, red streaks that were weapons ripping it to pieces before Archer leapt back to avoid Rider attacking him from above.

He landed next to a spear that he picked up and threw with his usable arm before a crossbow formed in it and he fired the bolt, hiding it behind the thrown spear.

'This is becoming useless.' Archer thought as he saw the shadow figure rise to its feet, reforming from his attack once again.' I'm running out of ideas beside…that could actually work.'

Archer held his working hand out in front of him with a look of concentration taking up his face, red light flashing from it after a moment.

"I am the bone of my sword."

When the shadow figure charged him they were torn apart by dozens of blades impaling it from all around, the blades raising from the ground to attack them.

"Steel is my body and fire is my blood."

Archer grinned as a long weapon, a spear most likely, emerged from the light and he grabbed the shaft in his working hand.

"I have created over a thousand blades."

The light faded and Archer spun the golden spear in his hands.

The shadow figure charged him, ripping itself out of it blades keeping it back and its wounds healing in an instant.

'My own regeneration is weakened against this creature, I need to keep it down so there's only one way to do that.' Archer thought with a glance at his wounded arm, it still unmovable.' Even if this succeeds it will still hit me with something, probably take me out for a few minutes.'

Archer charged forward, meeting the shadow figure in seconds and slamming the spear through its chest even as the figure's hands turned into large scythe like blades that were slashed down on Archer, the tips of the blades digging into his back as the rest of it tore into his shoulders and nearly through them.

'Damn, Plan B I guess.' Archer thought as he looked down at the blood covering the ground at his feet.

Archer let the spear go before grabbing the shadow figure around the throat and ignoring its screeching and slashing as it ripped the blades out.

"Unknown to Death, Nor known to Life!"

Flashes of light surrounded the two for a moment before clearing to show a dozen red and gold spears hanging above them.

'For once my existence has benefited me, about damn time too.' Archer thought as he glanced at the swords.

"Die creature."

The spears shot forward and Archer collapsed into the sand in time to avoid them while the shadow figure was torn apart by the attack.

"Saber, go get Archer." Rin ordered as she watched both fights, if you could call Shirou falling into Sakura's arms one, from a nearby dune of sand and frowning at the outcome of Archer's." This isn't turning out the way I thought it would."

"It would be better if I stayed, I don't see Rider and she may attack you while I am gone." Saber told Rin who waved off her concerns.

"Just do it, I have a plan."

"Hopefully a better one."

With those last words Saber sprinted towards Archer who's eyes stared transfixed on the gears above him.

'Maybe this will kill me and if that happens the kid doesn't have to die.'

As quickly as the idea came to his mind Archer threw it away.

'I'm delusional from blood loss, he will always have to die, it's better than alternative.'

Shirou had seen Archer make his first attack with the gold spear on the shadow figure and knew he had ample time to stop him from being injured but he couldn't find any reason to move from his comfortable spot on the ground, laying his head on Sakura's lap with the purple haired girl running her hands through his hair, laughing and smiling the entire time.

"You were so easy Shirou and now your mine."

Shirou didn't respond so Sakura looked down at him, a confused expression on her face.

"Are you okay, Shirou?"

"Why…"

Shirou struggled to say even the single word and Sakura sighed as markings taking up her entire arm were visible with a red glow.

"Why do you have to ask me that?" Sakura asked as she laid her hand across Shirou's forehead and he immediately tried to move away but found the shadow material that Sakura seemed to be able to summon and shape in unlimited amounts binding him, not allowing him to move at all.

"Scream if you want because this will hurt." Sakura smiled at him as the markings on her hand changed from glowing to now a visible in black." I actually would prefer it, your screams are really nice."

Shirou chose to scream.

Unlimited Blade Works began reacting to the reshaping of Shirou's mind Sakura was attempting and Archer found himself shooting awake and screaming as pain shot through his body, one of the worse he had ever experienced and all focused around his head and it was growing with every second. The white haired Sword Magus ripped himself from Saber's grasp and stumbled down as he called a sword to his hand with a bow forming in his other. The pain was growing but he felt his arms move regardless of it and his Magic Circuits activated, sending Od running through the sword changing into an arrow in his hands.

Shirou began convulsing in Sakura's lap and she simply hummed as one hand continued running through his hair and her other helping with making him what she wanted.

'His hair is so soft, I wonder if its natural?'

Shirou was finding it harder and harder to do anything besides screaming at this point but the pain also brought him back or at least some of him.

He still struggled against his bonds to no effect but his mind was slowly returning, hopefully enough before Sakura finished whatever she was doing to him.

Gilgamesh sent another wave of weapons down at the fools attempting to interfere in some of the best entertainment he had seen in years.

"Learn your place mongrels!" Gilgamesh called down to the Servants joining forces in the hopes to stop him with their Masters nearby.

Berserker roared as he charged the King of Heroes only to be tossed back to the ground by a wave of blunt weapons. Gilgamesh had been controlling himself enough to avoid killing the Servants and rather enjoyed the game discovering how much damage each could take before death posed.

Well it was fun before filthy creatures formed a small army around them all, some even having what looked like demonic wings and raising into the air to meet him on Vimana, the Indian Noble Phantasm Gilgamesh enjoyed to fly.

"You creatures believe you may rise into the air?" Gilgamesh asked as he tapped his fingers on the throne and the wings folded out.

Roars and screeches were his answer and he merely smirked.

"Then allow me to show you your proper place."

Golden portals appeared on all sides of the aircraft and with a unneeded wave of his hands bullets tore apart the creatures around him and they seemed to disintegrate as the bullets hit them.

"You are not even worthy of laying on the ground in my world!"

Nothing could stop Gilgamesh and as he spotted the creatures surrounding the other Servants he rose off of the throne on the aircraft and with a wave of his hands more portals opened and missiles shot out, having the same effect as the bullets on the creatures that would dare to even exist in his world.

The battle, more like a slaughter, lasted all of a minute before Gilgamesh saw the last one be destroyed and he leaned back in his throne.

"Something is going to happen, I suggest you all leave here before it does." Gilgamesh called down to the Servants.

His warning wasn't from any sense of worry for those beneath him, more along the lines of the boredom everything would become if those who could entertain him in the future died now.

Shirou's screams ended as Sakura simply smiled down at him as she removed her hand to show black markings spreading from Shirou's forehead.

"There, now don't have to think at all. Isn't that perfect?"

There was no answer but Sakura seemed to have been satisfied at the lack of reply as she nodded.

"That's what I thought."

Archer let out a scream of rage as he collapsed to his knees on the sand as his Noble Phantasm began breaking down, the gears beginning to fall out of the sky and crash into the sand below, the sand itself blowing away in the harsh wind suddenly appearing. The wind even seemed to scream as it wreaked havoc on the world with the swords around it beginning to crack and the weaker ones were blown away as dust. joining the screaming wind.

'No...'

Archer found his strength leaving him, it growing harder to even keep his eyes from closing and that was only by knowing that if he did he would be dead.

'Dammit no…too close. Can't die yet.'

Archer dragged himself up with a spear nearby and spotted Sakura simply sitting with Shirou's head in her lap, his eyes completely blank.

"I am the bone of my sword."

Red light flickered around him but wouldn't hold, he was struggling to stay standing as the spear he was using to support himself crumbled to dust.

'That girl is destroying this place, just great.'

Archer knew the weapon he needed to fix the problem he found himself in but doubted he had the power to actually use it, definitely not at its full power but he reasoned to himself the attempt was at least necessary, he could build a plan from it later.

"Steel is my body and fire is my blood."

It began to steady and take a definite shape but Archer found it harder and harder to draw the usual strength from the aria.

'I am going to kill myself if I keep this up…'

"I have created over a thousand blades."

'…and for once it's worth it.'

His bow finally took shape but wouldn't hold for long and he knew for a fact that it would shatter if he notched an arrow, at least if he did it now.

"Unknown to Death, Nor known to Life."

He drew more power from his Noble Phantasm and a dagger took shape in his hand before changing into an arrow.

"Have withstood pain to create many weapons."

With some of his strength now back he had the energy to glare towards the smiling Sakura as he notched the arrow.

'She's going down, no matter what I have to do.'

"Yet those hands will never hold anything."

Rider and Sakura's shadow creature charged him at that point, a glare from the Matou Master sending them forward to kill Archer.

"Damn." Archer cursed as he stood no chance against the two, Sakura's hold on Shirou weakening him too much to stand properly, let alone fight them both while preparing his attack.

In any other time or path he could bring them down, especially with Unlimited Blade Works deployed, but now he knew it would mean death to even try to block one of their blows, all of his weapons weakened and little better than sharpened twigs, he doubted they could even be called that at his current level of power.

"Saber, defend him." Rin ordered and the Servant was glad to attack the shadow figure with her sword, using Prana Burst to held in cleaving its durable body in two with the wave of air the strike unleashed before the release of Invisible Air threw away both halves as she turned to Rider and a gauntleted fist slammed into her stomach and threw her far away.

"Finish your chant Archer, I will keep both of them away." Saber told the Servant who took aim.

Rider recovered from her impromptu flight and her chain daggers shot forward only for Saber to grab both weapons out the air as she let Excalibur go and use them to slam Rider into the ground before pulling her up and into the reforming shadow creature. Grabbing Excalibur out the air moments later wasn't difficult and Saber shot forward using Prana Burst to stab through Rider before ripping her sword upwards, tearing Rider in half at the waist and up before throwing her away with a kick and turning to the still reforming halves of Sakura's shadow creature.

"I don't care for what you are creature, retreat and I will spare you but attack and I will destroy you." Saber's warning was ignored as the creature charged her after putting itself back together.

"So be it." Saber charged the shadow figure who swung at her wildly to miss every time as Saber dodged them with little difficulty as she reached the figure." Excalibur!"

The sword absorbed Saber's energy and the light it released caused the shadow figure to scream in agony as it was finally destroyed.

'It's like I thought, weapons like Excalibur will destroy those creatures while anything else it could heal from, even cursed weapons.' Rin thought with a smirk at her guess proving correct.' But she can still summon an army of those creatures, something even Saber can't fight forever so I need something else.'

Her eyes turned to Archer and she wiped the grin from her face before turning to Shirou, his body limp for now.

'Both of them could work but only as diversions.'

"So as I pray, Unlimited Blade Works."

The world around them stopped its destruction and Archer felt the surge of strength enter him as the world around him rebuilt itself to his relief.

"Die!" Archer shouted as he released the arrow." Rule Breaker!"

Sakura giggled as she saw the arrow approach and looked down at Shirou.

"Stop it."

The markings glowed and Shirou raised an arm and swords rose into the air all around the two and intercepted it, shattering it.

"Now kill."

"Nnnn…"

The words wouldn't come out and Sakura frowned at Shirou, looking down at him from his spot on her lap.

"Why are you talking?"

The marks on her arm appeared again and Shirou's eyes widened in panic even as the rest of his body remained unmoving.

"Dammit no!"

A red blur shot forward, Saber intercepting Rider as she attempted to stop the charging Archer.

'I am not failing now!'

The dagger he had turned into the arrow appeared in his hands and blood spilled to the ground.

"What…what the hell?" Archer managed to ask as he drew the knife out." What did you do?"

"What it looks like." Sakura answered.

"You bitch!" Rin's unexpected scream brought Sakura's attention towards her." What the hell did you just do?"

Sakura merely shrugged as she held Shirou up in one hand, using him as a shield against the dagger.

"He jumped in the way for me, what's the problem?"

Before Archer could attack again a black sphere made out of the shadow material of the creature Archer and Shirou had fought against fired into the white haired Servant and erupted into spikes, tearing Archer apart in seconds. The only trace left was his armor and it was dissolving and gone before it hit the ground with his cloak seemingly acting as a grave marker, floating down to land where he had stood at.

Sakura tossed Shirou to the ground and looked on as he healed without her power with a frown on her face.

"Why did you do that, Shirou?"

Another black sphere fired into Shirou and created a worse wound in his stomach before the markings on his head glowed and the wound sealed itself shut with a hiss and a black vapor leaking from it.

"Saber, kill her!" Rin ordered and the King of Knights was happy to comply and charged the purple haired girl with Prana Burst, Sakura collapsing into giggles at the sight.

"Kill them!" Sakura ordered and an army rose out of the ground and the marks on Shirou glowed as she giggled and sat down next to him." Thank you for helping me Shirou."

The army Sakura created was armed in seconds and soon covered in armor identical to Shirou's with the mark Sakura had placed on the Magus glowing brighter.

"Shit, we're going to die in here." Rin cursed as the army charged Saber.

Just as quickly as they were summoned and armed they were destroyed by Excalibur's attack of light.

"I highly doubt that." Saber told her Master as she walked up to her." I can continue to fire those for some time, what matters is our escape from this place."

"Since Archer's dead and it still hasn't faded then it means we need to kill Shirou." Rin told her Servant after a moment and the King of Knight nodded, somewhat forced.

"I will kill him to protect you." Saber answered, already regretful at what she would have to do while Rin only laughed a moment later.

"We don't have to kill him, we just need to separate him from Sakura." Rin told her Servant." I'll also need to take him to so…"

"Did you just say you want to take him away from me!" Sakura's hands wrapped around Rin's throat moment later and lifted her into the air with Saber rushing forward only to be slammed into the ground by one of the fists of a massive shadow figure.

"No one will EVER take him from me!"

Gilgamesh sat on the throne of Vimana, taping his fingers as he thought about what to do.

He had been able to view everything happening inside Unlimited Blade Works ever since the Noble Phantasm was deployed but refrained, not needing nor wanting to know how the fight ended but the way events had turned had quickly gotten his attention and caused him to ignore all those that had arrived.

'That girl is going to be annoying, I wanted to kill the Faker myself and now she has him as a slave, opportunity missed I suppose.' Gilgamesh rose to his feet off his throne and deciding on something.

Sakura hummed to herself even as Saber tried to cut off her arms after freeing herself from the shadow giant only for her Shirou to stop Tohsaka's Servant and knock her aside.

He was for all intents now a mindless puppet linked to Sakura but it really didn't matter to her, the power she awakened would let her do anything and once Shirou learned how to behave he could have his mind back.

Maybe she should give him company?

Outside the Noble Phantasm Gilagmesh drew out a small golden key from a portal and looked at it for a moment.

'This will probably end in an annoyance for me but it is necessary.'

Gilgamesh seemed to slide the key into a lock seen only to him as with a flash of golden light a doorway appeared and he stepped through it, intending on fixing the most pressing problem.

His one source of entertainment and one of the possible opponents worth his time in this ridiculous war was at stakes and he would be damned if he let such an entertaining Faker die so quickly and to the whims of a possessed girl.

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><p>AN: Well read and review.<p>

Peace.


	8. Chapter 8

Alright I'm back with the next chapter of the poll winner Shirou Reborn and it was by a lot. with the final results this story in first place with 39 votes, Naruto, Master of the Zanpakuto in second with 12 votes, and Ichigo Kurosaki-Sparda in last place with 9 votes so with that done with this story will be finished first with Naruto, Master of the Zanpakuto finished next, and Ichigo Kurosaki-Sparda finished last.

Okay, now for disclaimer:

I do not own Fate/stay night or any other work appearing in this work of fiction with it all belonging to its respective owners and I am in no way, shape, or form attempting to or making a profit or claim for this work of fiction.

Now, on with the story now!

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><p>Ten days later…<p>

_Blood, blood was everywhere and he could hardly move his body, blades piercing it and adding his blood to the ground. Even then he had to move, he had to…_

One Shirou Emiya woke from a restless sleep with a start, a dagger appearing in one hand and even at the cold temperature of the room he was sweating.

'What the hell did I just see, was it me or Archer that time?' Shirou found his body shaking, it was even a struggle to keep his grip on the dagger and seconds later it shattered in a dim flash of light.' Why is this still happening?'

"Shirou, what's wrong?" A pair of arms wrapped around his waist and he sighed.

"It's the nightmares, I think they're actually getting worse now."

The arms tightened around his waist at that.

"That's not good."

"You're telling me."

Shirou didn't speak again for several minutes.

"Rin, what did Archer tell you before we fought?"

"Not much, he just said he had to do it and then he left."

"What about Saber, where was she when he broke in?"

"She was still resting after helping him free you from Sakura's control and then all the fights she got into after that, she couldn't have done anything even if she was awake. From the power he had then it felt like he could have killed Berserker with a look."

"It's a miracle I even stood a chance against him then."

"After what you did I'm surprised the city was still standing."

Shirou chuckled even as Rin's arms tightened further, going from holding him to trying to crush him.

"I did deploy Unlimited Blade Works a few minutes into the fight, we kept the fight in there for the most part."

"Except for when you decided to copy Excalibur, somehow doing so despite all facts pointing to it being impossible by the way, and then turn it into a bomb while unleashing its full power at the same time."

"To be fair Gilgamesh used some world destroying attack against Sakura, I thought it was alright and it was sort of just a bomb to begin with, it was really terrible too and would have been less than trash compared to the real one."

"Gilgamesh had very fine control over his attack, you would have destroyed most of the city if Saber hadn't handed over Avalon to Gilgamesh and he shielded the city with it and, most importantly, Excalibur isn't normally a bomb when Saber uses it, you're lucky it even worked in the end."

"See, it all worked out in the end."

"Luckily for you I was feeling merciful at the time and decided to help you in replenishing your energy."

"Then why did we keep going a few more times after that?"

"I felt you needed more power after helping in destroying the Grail and don't question my generosity again!"

"Sure thing, right after you tell me when you decided my health was such a concern for you, before or after the past few days?"

"During, since you could copy Excalibur and turn it into a Broken Phantasm I figured you were too important to lose because you exceeded your limits."

"Are you sure you didn't want to just do it again?"

"No, I felt you were more valuable to me alive then as I corpse for study."

Shirou merely chuckled as he stood up, pulling Rin up with him and flipping her around to hold her.

"And you're sure you did it just for that?"

"Yes!"

As fun playing with a flustered and blushing Rin was Shirou knew he needed to start breakfast soon or he wouldn't finish in time but when he reached the door he couldn't help himself.

"I guess I'll take your word for it then but are you up for another round later? I think I used more energy than I thought when we destroyed the Grail."

"I helped you fill it up last night."

"I said I used more energy than I thought and you seemed eager to help last night. We tried a lot of different positions."

"Out! Now!"

Shirou chuckled as he closed the door behind him and walked down the halls to get started on breakfast, his armor and red cloak appearing in a flash of red light as he walked.

'It's a good thing I can still push her buttons.' Shirou grinned as he walked into the kitchen and began a task he truly enjoyed, cooking.

It also helped that cooking helped distract him from the burning heat rising throughout his body the moment he stepped out of the room.

'Dammit, how did Sakura deal with these things and how the hell did that bastard come up with something like this in the first place?' Shirou asked himself before the heat was suddenly gone and the Sword Magus sighed in relief as Rin stepped into the kitchen.' This is going to take some time getting used to or at least until someone figures out how to remove them.'

He moved a few trays over to the small table in the kitchen and grinned at the drool coming from Rin's mouth.

"I didn't think my cooking was that good Rin, nice to know I can make you drool so much with just the smell." Shirou told the Tohsaka Magus with a small grin while Rin wiped away the drool, embarrassed for a moment before digging into the food with a quick thanks to Shirou.

The Sword Magus went back to cooking and the long table in the next room was covered in trays not a moment too soon as the door was thrown open seconds after he had placed the last tray down.

"Where is the meal Faker?"

"Gilgamesh, it would help if you didn't make so much noise, Shirou didn't have to make a meal."

The King of Heroes was silent as he walked in with Saber, after the chaos of the Fifth Holy Grail War both had watched over Shirou and Rin as they helped each other recover their energy last night.

"King Gilgamesh." Shirou gave a bow to the King of Heroes before doing the same with the King of Knights." King Arthuria."

"You've gotten better Faker." Gilgamesh told him after a moment as he sat down at the table.

"Thank you King." Shirou was calling Gilgamesh by his title because he didn't feel like having to match Unlimited Blade Works against the Gates of Babylon this early in the morning and for a pointless reason as not addressing Gilgamesh as he preferred so settled on calling him King.

"Excuse him Shirou, he was annoyed that nothing happened last night." Arthuria told him as she sat down." We have not found the spirit that escaped from the Grail but hopefully you have a plan."

"Not at all." Shirou answered with a grin to Arthuria's annoyed look as he walked back into the kitchen to grab Rin.

The Magus was gone from the kitchen when he walked in and after a thought he walked down a hall and into an already open door into a guest room, Sakura Matou sleeping inside it and still not awake from a few days ago. Shirou decided to stand in the doorway for a moment, letting Rin have a moment to look over the sister, in her eyes, she had failed and had nearly caused her death if events had gone differently.

"Could we have changed it?"

"That's a stupid question."

Shirou stepped in and grabbed Rin's fist as she swung them and pulled them down while pulling the Tohsaka Magus forward and her head nearly hit his armor if she hadn't stopped herself.

"Let me finish. Okay?" Shirou waited for Rin to nod before he continued." If we get stuck thinking about the past and our regrets from it then we'll be trapped there and not focused on the present or the future. I know that in the future Sakura will wake up and you two will be able to start a relationship, even if I have to get involved to stop either of you two from doing something stupid."

"What's to stop her from hating me and the entire Tohsaka family, she was left with those…"

"Don't get angry at two corpses."

"Zouken could still be alive, he didn't even have a real human body when he made his move. We don't know if we got all of the worms and we never found Shinji either."

Shirou chuckled at that.

"I'm pretty sure the explosion destroyed any of them left, you were terrifyingly mad when you attacked that place, it's a miracle the block was even standing afterwards. Whenever you're in a calm rage remind me to stay behind you. And as for Shinji, he'll be a corpse the next time I see him anyways and that's if he's even alive. The shock of losing that power after getting so much of it should have likely killed him, either instantly or he suffered."

"Mongrels, get out here, Arthuria will not allow me to eat until you two arrive!" Gilgamesh's shout brought both out and Shirou collapsed to the floor in laughter at the scene in front of him.

Arthuria had decided to wait for Rin and Shirou to arrive before beginning to eat and when the King of Heroes didn't agree she had pinned him to the floor and kept him there despite his struggles.

"Mongrel!" Gilgamesh snapped at Shirou as he was tempted to use the Gates of Babylon against the Sword Magus but with Saber suddenly pressing a knee onto his back he decided against it, at least for now." Mongrel, when I am free from this woman I will…" he was cut off with Saber covering his mouth with one hand.

Shirou slowly picked himself off the floor, still chuckling despite the half completed threat and enraged look on Gilgamesh's face.

After the meal Gilgamesh turned to Shirou and his red eyes unnerved the white haired teen.

"Faker, what is your plan?"

"What?"

"You've just helped in destroying the Holy Grail in what was the most chaotic Holy Grail War in recorded history. You and Tohsaka are two of the four surviving Masters and only three of you will come out unharmed once the Magus Association hears of this, you are not one of them."

"I'm not afraid of them."

Gilgamesh drank from a cup of wine appearing in his hands with a smirk at Shirou's words and after a few moments he spoke again.

"You would do well to treat those old fools with respect as they have power that they can crush you with."

"How do you know this Gilgamesh?"

The King of Heroes dismissed Rin's question with a wave of his hand.

"I know many things for what is, shall, and ever will be has already been recorded in the history books of my treasury."

"So you knew all of this was going to happen even before it happened?" Rin and Shirou demanded of him in unison and the King of Uruk chuckled at the faces of the two teens quickly turning red in embarrassment.

"Many things could have happened, some parts were blank but the expected outcome arrived. I doubted it little as my treasury has never been wrong, when I bothered to look through the books at least."

"Why don't you?" Saber's unexpected questions had Gilgamesh smirk as he leaned back in his chair." You could have ended all of this before it even began."

"If I had done that then life would be incredibly dull, I find no reason to waste it on reading on events that will happen and not find any excitement when it does." Gilgamesh clearly didn't care about knowing the future from the way he spoke in such a dismissive tone.

"And if you are to one day die?" Saber pressed the King of Heroes who merely shrugged.

"Even gods may one day fall."

That seemed to be the end of the conversation and Shirou decided to begin cleaning up the food and from a glance at the two other occupants at the table Saber decided to join him.

"Shirou, where is Illyasveil?" Saber didn't even bother pretending to help Shirou with the dishes and he merely pointed down the hall.

"She told me last night she wanted to look through the old man's journals and to bring her a plate later." Shirou handed Saber a tray at that and began washing the dishes." You could go and do it if you want, I'm a bit busy here."

Saber gave a brief nod and left to go see the girl who had little more than a year at best to live if nothing was done soon enough.

"So Tohsaka, enjoying the Faker's company?" Gilgamesh held up a napkin to stop the shower of water from Rin, he had asked the question when she was taking a drink for a reason." He's that good in bed?"

Gilgamesh chuckled as Rin was falling over herself trying to say something while blushing madly just from a few words.

"What are you talking about?" Rin finally managed to get the words out and Gilgamesh simply took another drink of his wine.

"I mean is it enjoyable for you? You've done it ever night since he's been retrieved so it must be at least decent for someone like you to continue it."

"I did it to help him, we needed him at full power to survive."

"No, you've been wanting to jump him ever since you saw him that night. I can even look it up if you want." Gilgamesh held up his hand and a book dropped into it." It can even be a picture book and to comment on it you seem to have odd taste when it comes to the bedroom so please make sure to lock your doors, that type of things can traumatize children if you're not careful."

Rin was finding it impossible to answer and Gilgamesh broke down into laughter at the sight of it, the books sent back to his treasury seconds later.

"You are too easy girl."

Saber slowly opened the door to Kiritsuga's study and found the girl she was looking for sitting at the desk.

"Ilya."

The seemingly young girl looked up from the journal she was reading and Saber handed her the cup of coffee Shirou had put on the tray.

"I don't think I need to ask why you're here, you're sad knowing I'm going to die soon." Ilya still didn't waste time as after greetings she had jumped straight to the point." I know it's sad but don't worry about it, my dad had a plan for this, I just need to find it."

"That's why I'm here." Saber pulled up a chair and pulled a journal from a pile.

"Thank you I suppose."

"You may thank me when we succeed."

Shirou finished the dishes and cursed Zouken Matou and his mind to the deepest pits of wherever he ended up at the burning heat spreading through his body the moment he entered the kitchen and away from Rin, some plot of Zouken's if it was only Rin that could help him with it.

'I'm going to kill that bastard, then I'm going to revive him, rip him in half, put him together, tear him to shred, weld him back together, and then burn him to ashes just to start off.' Shirou was mentally going through what weapon in Unlimited Blade Works would help him do all of that as he wasn't in that best of a mood, really not at all if he decided to brutally kill Zouken Matou.

When the growing heat in his body was suddenly gone it helped alert him to Rin's presence in the kitchen and he turned around to spot her walking up to him.

"What do you ne…"

The Sword Magus was cut off when Rin grabbed him by the parts of his cloak at his shoulders and forcing her lips on his. The fact she was even doing this was a shocker to Shirou, Rin had explained their nightly activities were only to build up their energy for the next day so for her to kiss him like this was a big enough shock to freeze him in place.

Clapping from nearby had Rin pull away from him and glare at a smirking Gilgamesh who leaned in the doorframe and took a sip of wine.

"And I thought you wouldn't follow through, it was highly amusing talking you into doing that but we have more pressing matters to discuss now." Gilgamesh took a long drink of wine from the golden goblet in his hands and his tone seemed uncaring despite what everyone in the house knew needed to be discussed.

"I guess you're right, any ideas my King?" Shirou stepped back from Rin and Gilgamesh waved towards the small table inside the kitchen and the two Magus took a seat at it, Shirou bringing two cups of coffee over with him." I have no doubt that the Mage's Association will send someone here and I and the boy are bound to be placed under a Sealing Designation. I don't care for them as anyone sent after me will be killed for even such a thought of imprisoning a King but the Faker will face problems."

"I'm a walking armory, I think I can handle anyone they throw at me." Shirou's words earned him a bop over the head almost before the words left his mouth.

While the Sword Magus was rolling on the ground clutching at his head Rin turned to the King of Heroes.

"I thought up a plan for this last night, there's no need to concern yourself with it." Rin ignored Shirou as he rolled back and forth on the ground in pain and Gilgamesh nodded." Shirou and I will leave Fuyuki for the moment and take care of some of the problems this Grail War caused."

"With that fool out of the way, what of Arthuria and Ilya? Saber shouldn't exist at this point but she does and Ilya is at risk for the same fate as the boy, perhaps worse." Gilgamesh kicked Shirou away from his chair and Rin nodded as she thought for a moment.

"Arthuria may still be able to hold her form because the three of us, myself, Shirou, and Illyasveil, formed a special contract with her in order to ensure she could fight at her full potential and her contact with the Corrupted Grail, she was also covered in the blood of the Grail's creations yesterday so it may have done the same thing it did with you when you were covered in it." Rin was obviously guessing and Gilgamesh nodded.

"If that's the case then I have a plan, you may take the Faker with you and have him act as your apprentice or servant and I will take Arthuria and Ilya with me on my travels and if we encounter the Mage's Association they die." Gilgamesh seemed to have easily solved the problem but Rin smirked.

"The King of Heroes wants a family then?"

She was already ducking when Gilgamesh fired a dozen of weapons at her moments later and Gilgamesh was about to throw the table aside and launch another barrage when Shirou shot to his feet and was on the table with Kanshou and Bakuya in his hands and both leveled at his throat.

"Okay, let's all calm down and not start destroying my house again." Shirou went pale at Gilgamesh's grin seconds later.

"I will remember that." The King of Heroes sat down moments later and Shirou flipped off the table and landed in his seat, keeping an eye on the King of Heroes for any signs of…well anything really.

"So, from what I heard on the floor we've reached some type of decision, right?" Shirou looked to Rin who sighed.

"Why were you down there in the first place?" The Tohsaka Magus didn't allow her question to be answered as she gestured to Gilgamesh with a wave of her hand." Gilgamesh has agreed to travel with Arthuria and Illyasveil while we depart for the Mage's Association and hopefully keep the Grail Wars from ever happening again after the last two fiascos they turned into. If things get bad I'll just have you kill everyone there."

"Why me?" Shirou knew he could and would do so if asked but felt the need to ask.

"I'll tell you after it happens." Rin of course didn't answer and the Magus sighed but he was sad to say he was used to it after a few days, Rin liked to keep information to herself but would make the right call when it came down to it, well most of the times she would but he knew better than to trust her to make the right choice for everyone because it was usually either for herself or the Tohsaka family as a whole.

"I'll hold you to that." Shirou turned to the King of Heroes to find him quietly chuckling.

"You two are so stupidly prefect for each other, it's too funny to watch sometimes." Gilgamesh stood from the table and left the kitchen, still chuckling." I will inform Ilya and Arthuria of the decision, they should agree and if not it's your problem."

Once Rin was sure he was gone she turned to Shirou who calmly took a sip of his coffee before speaking.

"I hope you have a plan you're going to tell me about, I don't want to walk into a situation unprepared or find myself the victim of a Sealing Designation, I'll be sure to kill a few people before I'm taken down just to let you know." Rin knew a threat when it was issued but Shirou's was more like a promise of death is she ever betrayed him again.

Being turned into her Servant, no matter how short the time was, lead to a host of other problems that he wouldn't forget about for a long time and with it all because of her need for control over people made it a sore subject for him and it would be one for a long time. It didn't help that his status as a pseudo-Servant ended up with Sakura having full control of him later on when she was psychotic, something that wasn't enjoyable to say the least.

"I can prom…" Rin began only to be interrupted by Shirou.

"Promises mean nothing to me when they come from you Tohsaka, you turning me into your Servant was more than enough to prove that so I suggest your next words are chosen carefully or else I'll save myself the trouble and kill you now." Shirou's personality shift when they were alone like this was still a shocker to Rin but she had a hypothesize on why, it just couldn't be proven if the Sword Magus wouldn't answer her questions.

"If you want the truth then the fact is I need you as protection against the Association and it also helps that no one would bother to take you seriously with no real prestige to your name along with your lack of a Magic Crest."

"So you admit most Magus are idiots for that, right?" Shirou asked as he set down his cup and stood up, brushing something off of his cloak at his shoulder." I don't like killing but considering who they are I'll make an exception, just tell me where to swing and they'll be dead."

He didn't let her speak again as he walked out of the kitchen with Rin not as annoyed as she normally would be since during Sakura's brief stay as his Master she had left dozens of scars that were still healing, she had seen them for herself and noticed they seemed to be responsible for Shirou's spasms of pain during the day.

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><p>AN: Okay, this probably wasn't the best chapter I've ever made so sorry for anything in advance and with the Grail War over with it'll be more of an AU from here then at any other time and I'm open to suggestions for another arc because if not I'll try to wrap it up now.<p>

Read and review.

Peace.


	9. Chapter 9

Two chapter back to back for the long wait.

Disclaimer: I do not own Fate/stay night or any material that comes up in this work of fiction and I am not attempting to or making a profit or claim for anything that shows up in this story in any way, shape, or form.

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><p>Undisclosed amount of time later….<p>

Shirou's eyes caught the plane as it left the city and sighed in relief at that, Illyasveil was safe with Arthuria and Gilgamesh with her.

"Shirou, pay attention." Rin's arms tightened around him as she said this, a consequence of his their mode of transportation for a while.

"Don't worry Rin, I have almost full control." Shirou chuckled as Rin's grip tightened again and he rode the Yamaha V-Max Kiritsuga Emiya had lent to Saber during the Fourth Holy Grail War and something he had been working on when he had the time too and was glad he did so.

"What do you mean almost!"

"This."

With little warning Shirou put on a burst of speed and thanks to Magecraft added to the bike it went to full speed almost instantly. Of course it wasn't the bike's true speed as Shirou was in no mood to kill himself or at least try the turns of London with Rin very nearly killing him, his cracking armor the only thing keeping him able to breath. But back to the topic at hand, Shirou could change the bike into a speed demon but also nearly kill himself in the process if it was anything but a straight shot, turning would be completely impossible without Arthuria's skills and abilities to give him even a remote chance of turning the beast of a machine.

"Rin, could you stop screaming?" Shirou called back to her, discovering the Tohsaka Magus had a very powerful set of lungs." I can't really focus."

"…" whatever Rin said was lost from the force of the wind around them but Shirou was pretty sure it was cursing directed at him and a lot of it.

The bike eventually slowed to a stop in an alley and Shirou leapt off of it with a grin with Rin falling off it behind him and Shirou was glad Kiritsuga found an easy way to store the bike as it vanished in a flash of light.

"I am going to kill you." Rin's threat was really halfhearted in Shirou's opinion as she was still lying on the ground as a trembling mess from the ride.

"You could do better Rin and you should really get up, it looks pretty cold down there." Shirou told the Magus and Rin took his offered hand before grinning and he sighed.

"Should have seen this coming I guess."

His legs hit the wall with his back hitting the ground and all he could do was look up at a chuckling Rin.

"Ouch." It was halfhearted at best but then again he had been through worse, much, much worse.

A few minutes later the two were sitting in a coffee shop and having a quiet conversation.

"What is our plan now that we're here?" Shirou felt that was the most pressing question since they, at least he, had a very high likelihood of execution by the Mage's Association for destroying the Holy Grail, a path to Akasha, the thing all Magus strived for and they had destroyed the most promising path to reach it.

"Use the Tohsaka money and power and your power if necessary to avoid execution for destroying the Corrupted Grail and begin my studies at the Clock Tower." Rin's plan was very basic and Shirou sighed as he pulled up a newspaper.

"Rooftop, two blocks down and third on the right."

Rin refused to look there while taking a sip of her drink, asking her next question with her mouth covered by the cup.

"How many?"

"Three, scouts most likely since they're keeping an eye on us at such a distance."

"Can you take them?"

"No, at least not without drawing attention somewhere else first and making an unwanted scene, something I can't do without some damage to the buildings behind us."

"Perhaps a distraction would help, like a smoke cloud down the street or something?"

"Won't work, Magus seem to be suspicious by nature and the fact they have three, through no doubt rookies, watching us is a shocker itself. They'll see through anything abnormal like that and immediately leave the area or, if they're arrogant, try to take us down and I'll have to kill them then anyway, creating too many problems for me to actually feel like doing it."

"It's a good thing the other four are gone then, this would be much worse than scouts if they were here."

Rin was right as luckily, thanks to no small part to Rin's influence and fortune, Gilgamesh, Arthuria, the comatose Sakura, and Illyasveil along with her two maids were on a private jet and Gilgamesh turned out to be an incredible pilot so neither had to worry about any of them for the duration of their stay in London as Gilgamesh had made it clear his intentions to travel the world and see what had become of his treasury in his absence.

"You're right, do you think we should head to the Clock Tower now?"

"No, it'll look suspicious. Let's head back to the hotel and wait for tomorrow at least."

"If you insist, I guess I'll get to take them out when they get stupid enough to attack the room."

The two Magus left their table at that point and Shirou found he held a strong dislike for following orders because whoever those three were could follow them since Rin wouldn't let him kill them. Even if she had good reasons it was annoying to know three Magus were following them. Now that Shirou thought about it the merge with Archer may have changed his personality more then he really thought about it or it was his old man's journals that were pretty clear cut on his methods on saving the majority as to him it was always the needs of the many over the few and Shirou respected Kiritsuga for such a thing, it was hard to take a life when he wanted to be a 'Hero of Justice' and even harder to know people would always have to die to save others and for Kiritsuga to accept that had a certain level of respect from the Sword Magus.

"Shirou, don't stay awake all night, eventually come to bed."

They had finally got to their hotel at around midnight and Rin was already in bed with Shirou leaning in a chair against the wall, nearby the nearly clear glass doors out to the small balcony attached to their room, near the top floor of the hotel.

"Don't worry about me, I can stay up."

Rin was already asleep and Shirou counted down from ten, only reaching six when the doors opened and the three scouts that had tailed them all day stepped into the room, seemingly invisible to the naked eye while Shirou hid his grin as he silently vanished from the chair and chains wrapped around the waists of two and ripped them out and over the balcony with the last meeting a gauntleted fist to the face that sent them flying out and crashing into the railing if Shirou didn't grab their foot to stop them.

"I think you should leave, Tohsaka is sleeping and does not like to be disturbed."

Shirou threw them over the railing seconds later and the chains holding the other two unwound from their waists and he pulled them up as the two fell. The three Magus, of course, saved themselves from certain death but fled seconds later.

Shirou was satisfied at having scared them off and after changing into a pair of shorts he was asleep next to Rin.

His sleep wasn't peaceful, the nightmares continued.

_His broken body refused to move as he laid on the ground and when he tried to get up he collapsed, the blades in his body tearing out as he rolled down the hill. Even then his blood soaked hand reached out, hoping to at least…_

Shirou found himself shooting upright barely an hour later and he looked down at his hands, needing reassurance they weren't soaked in blood.

"What the hell is going on, was that…"

"Shirou, lay back down and we'll deal with it in the morning." Rin seemed to only be half awake from his sudden movements and one arm went over his chest and pulled him back down to the bed." If you wake me up again I'll chain you to the bed."

Shirou found himself Rin's new pillow somehow but also found his sleep a little more peaceful, the nightmares changed to dreams something better.

"_What an interesting young woman you've grown into Rin, now do you think you could untie me from the chair?"_

"_If I do a__re you going to go running off again Shirou?"  
><em>

_"It depends, I have…stuff to do."_

"_No you don't, now stay still so I can take the picture."_

"_Wait! You said this was a joke!"_

"_It is and it's also blackmail for later."  
><em>

_"So that's why you have my face looking like a clown's! You even dyed my hair all these stupid colors and I let you change it! Do you have any idea how long it takes me to get it that spiky?"_

"_To be fair you let me do it and I figured it was natural."_

"_That's not the point Rin!"_

Somewhere over China Gilgamesh was looking over a map in annoyance.

"This is ridiculous, a King can't fly where he pleases?" Gilgamesh demanded and Arthuria once again sighed, reaching her limits with the King of Heroes and his attitude towards the modern world.

"Certain airspaces are restricted from commercial flight by the rulers of the present world, if we fly over them then they're likely to shoot us down if you ignore their warnings." Arthuria felt like it would have been better to just stay in Fuyuki with Gilgamesh's attitude towards the laws of the present.

He was…uncooperative to put it lightly.

"No! I refuse to listen to these Mongrels!" Gilgamesh exclaimed as he tossed aside the map and took control of the plane once again." A King bows to no one!"

"No!" Arthuria shouted in vain as she made a panicked dive for the controls.

Arthuria was too late as Gilgamesh had flown the plane over the base she had told him to avoid where Gilgamesh then ignored the several warnings from the personal and once again they were forced to avoid the hostile action the base took.

'Why do I even bother sometimes?' Arthuria strapped herself in as Gilgamesh laughed at their attempts to shoot him down.

"You fools, I am King even in the air!"

'And these two are supposed to protect me how?' Illyasveil glanced to her maids and the still comatose Sakura they had brought along with them.

'I would feel better with Sakura doing it.'

With a sigh at Gilgamesh's wild flying she looked out the window.

'I hope Onii-chan is having a worse time than me at least.'

Illyasveil may have let go of her hatred for the Sword Magus and felt they were siblings now but that didn't mean she wanted him to have a better time than her, especially when he gave her these two as protection.

In London Shirou was bored, really, really, really bored. Bored enough that he was very sure death was more preferable than sitting through the meeting Rin had dragged him into and the one he had been sitting in a wooden chair for the past FOUR hours for.

Rin had dragged them both to the Clock Tower the moment she woke up and now he was counting the number of idiots in front of him for the thirtieth time in a row, he had already gone through most snobbish look, most arrogant, most annoying voice, and a dozen other categories already and was now stuck on this one.

'Would it be worth using Unlimited Blade Works for this? A little chant and then BOOM unlimited swords exploding everywhere!' Shirou wasn't sure he was joking at this point so changed his mind to looking through the mental catalogue of every weapon or armor in Unlimited Blade Works, an exercise Archer had used to calm himself down in life and one Shirou had a feeling he would be using more than his possible future self.

'I really wish Archer was still here, I could at least hold a conversation with him, or is it me? Well he was at least a future me but then if that's right then he could or could not be me which is making this more confusing than it should be. Maybe he was the most likely future since I summoned him?'

A nudge to his side got his attention and he instantly snapped out of his thoughts on, in his opinion, rapidly fading sanity at asking himself questions he expected an answer to.

"Pay attention." Rin somehow didn't move her lips when she hissed the words to him and Shirou found himself impressed at such a skill.

"Tohsaka, you are saying that the Holy Grail was corrupted, correct?"

"Yes, I've been saying that for the past several hours." Rin answered Idiot #1.

"And we are supposed to believe such a thing?"

And give it up for Idiot #2 for sparking a new argument (AKA shouting match) on if the Holy Grail was destroyed on purpose or with no other choice available.

"Do I kill them now?" Shirou felt the need to finally ask Rin the question in a whisper, seeing her reaching the limits on holding in her annoyance and staying respectful to the idiots that would be deciding her future.

"I'm on the verge of saying yes." Rin's answer had Shirou shocked, actually more surprised than shock since he wanted to unleash Unlimited Blade Works even while knowing he would immediately get a Sealing Designation from it.

"Maybe we should do this again later once you've calmed down, do you think it's a possibility?" Rin slowly nodded to Shirou's question and stepped forward.

After a short speech by the Tohsaka Magus the mostly elderly Magus around them were sent into a furious argument that made them completely ignore the two Magus they had begun the meeting about and with that distraction Shirou scooped up Rin before rushing out the room, everyone ignoring the two of them as they fled.

"So, how long until they notice you've left?"

"I give it a few hours."

"Enough time to at least go on a tour I guess."

"Or come back with me and finish this nonsense." The unexpected voice had Shirou set Rin down on her feet and Shirou ready to call a certain pair of blades from Unlimited Blade Works.

Rin only sighed and face palmed.

"Of course it would have to be you."

Illyasveil was glad Gilgamesh had landed the plane and they now explored the beautiful meadow nearby.

"Arthuria, what do you think of my brother?" Illyasveil was lucky Gilgamesh was elsewhere or else he would have gone into a rage as his thoughts went wild and eventually lead to a Faker taking away his queen and he would then swear to kill Shirou for such a thing even if it was just his own thoughts running rampant, Arthuria would then beat him into the ground in annoyance while her two maids shielded her from the brutal scene it would be.

"I find him a capable warrior and suitable guard for my Master, even if he can be just as annoying as Gilgamesh at some times." Arthuria dropped the subject at that and walked over to the plane." Please don't wander off, we still don't know if we've been fol…"

"YOU DARE? DIE YOU FILTHY MONGRELS!"

Part of the forest around the meadow exploded and seconds later a very satisfied Gilgamesh stepped out of the smoke, brushing dirt off his jacket.

"What did you do?" Arthuria was on the verge of summoning her armor and ripping Gilgamesh to pieces at whatever he did but the King of Uruk simply smirked.

"A bear attempted to attack me, I destroyed it for such an offense to the King." Gilgamesh told her and Arthuria sighed as she walked onto the plane.

"I may start drinking at this point, being trapped with you is worse than any torture Morgana could ever conceive." Arthuria walked onto the jet with Gilgamesh watching as she climbed the steps, annoyed at her continuing her actions in ignoring him.

Illyasveil walked up to Gilgamesh and after a moment gestured for him to bend down and slapped him seconds later, the King of Heroes shocked at such an offense and was silent for now because of it.

"It's obvious you want to marry Arthuria so let me give you a few tips. First one, destroying everything that annoys you will only insure she stays away from you, believing your psychotic. Second, your attitude could use a little work if you're trying to be serious about this. Third, if you really want to get her attention in the right way then start acting like you're sane, so that means you don't destroy an entire forest because a bear tried to attack you, and it was probably just walking by in the first place, and stop ignoring the rules. We're supposed to be keeping a low profile, remember? So do you have all that or do I have to repeat it? I wouldn't so you don't have to answer and both of us would be on the jet when you decide to leave."

Illyasveil boarded the jet with her maids bringing the flowers she had picked with them with a stunned Gilgamesh still outside even after what was at least ten minutes.

'Did she just slap me?'

In London Rin was both worried and afraid at the scene in front of her because on one hand Shirou was getting along with the old man after an initial rocky start but on the other hand this old man was Kischur Zelretch Schweinorg, the very definition of having too much free time mixed with extreme amounts of power and extreme boredom and to make it worst the two seemed like old friends reuniting after a few years apart.

"Is that Wizard Marshal Zelretch?"

"What is he doing here?"

"Who is he talking to?"

"Oh no, that guy's back, we've got to get out of here."

"You've gotta to be kidding me, what is he doing here now?"

"It's Kaleidoscope, run. Now!"

Rin ignored the many voices from the Magus around her and walked up to the two, grabbing Shirou by the arm.

"Shirou, we need to leave."

"Ah, Rin, how is your progress on that project I've left your family?" Zelretch turned his attention to the Tohsaka Head and she mentally cursed even while giving him a smile she reserved for getting out of serious trouble.

"Zelretch, I've had very little time to work on it with the handling of the Tohsaka family in its entirety and the early Grail War." Rin was telling the truth when she said this and Zelretch nodded.

"Yes, I'm actually here to help dismantle that foolish competition. I was trying to contact you but couldn't reach you in Fuyuki, do you mind if I escort you back to the meeting you've just left from?"

"Damn." both Magus cursed as they now found themselves walking with Zelretch back to the meeting they had just managed to escape from.

"I must say, I'm impressed that either of you are still alive. After that disaster of a Grail War I was sure both of you would be dead, killed by that Sakura girl during her insanity."

Rin and Shirou both noticed the group of Magus following them, not at all hiding it once the Grail War was mentioned.

"I mean the sheer mess that war turned into was incredible and it's mostly on your shoulders, the two of you were keys that opened a door of chaos that was almost kept open forever."

"Are you trying to get us killed?" Rin asked Zelretch after a moment who chuckled once again.

"I'm here to stop the Grail Wars, that's all."

"Do I get to kill him?" Shirou directed his questioned towards Rin who shook her head.

"He uses the Second Magic and he's lived for centuries, he gained that title of Wizard Marshal himself so he'll demolish you in seconds."

Shirou seemed to be focused on something else at this point and somehow slipped away, even with Rin looking right at him.

'He's about to do something stupid.'

Zelretch led her to the meeting and Rin was stuck inside for the next few hours with Shirou nowhere in sight for the entire duration of it even if the meeting really wasn't much as it was Zelretch talking the Magus there into dismantling the Holy Grail with obvious signs of corruption while ignoring their suggestions for his next group of apprentices, repeatedly saying he already had some in mind.

In a more open space of the Clock Tower Shirou stopped walking and turned to whoever was following him.

"Alright, who are you?" Shirou demanded and the blonde who was following him gave a short bow.

"My name is Luviagelita Edelfelt, Luvia for short, and I'm interested in the Grail War, and you were a Master in the last one, am I right?" the named blonde answered and after a moment Shirou gave a quick nod and Luviagelita smiled at that." Then you can answer my questions on it and the disaster the Fifth War was, correct?"

"Why do you think I'll tell you anything?" Shirou asked, crossing his arms over his chest and mentally going over the risks of pulling something out of Unlimited Blade Works, if the feeling he was getting was right then the girl in front of him was dangerous and would need more than martial arts to bring her down.

"Because if you insist in withholding information I might find useful I will have no choice but to force it out of you." Luviagelita answered and Shirou smirked at that while he changed his footing, preparing himself for the imminent confrontation between him and Luviagelita.

"I'll like to see you try." Shirou told her and Luviagelita matched his smirk as she began walking forward.

"If you insist." Luviagelita told him as she began speeding up and Shirou noticed her at first pointlessly frilly dress was designed for movement and fashion, something he took note of as he uncrossed his arms and took a step or two back as Luviagelita neared him.

Shirou figured he could take the Magus, he had fought Berserker while still getting used to his enhanced abilities and almost succeeded in killing him so a Magus should be easy to take down.

Even if Rin didn't want him using Tracing while they were at the Clock Tower it should be easy and he should have enough time to get back to Rin before the meeting ended. He would very soon find out he was very, very wrong in a painful way.

Hours later Rin found Luviagelita shooting Gandr at a tied and upside down Shirou who managed to turn his body to avoid each of them, cursing the fact that he held back most of his power to avoid killing the Magus and after learning she was a grappler type fighter he had planned to overpower her but had used too little strength and she had tied him up after slamming him into the ground, stunning him long enough to pull him up upside down over a branch.

"Rin, please help me!" Shirou shouted the moment he saw her and she sighed." This girl is insane and freakishly fast!"

"Luviagelita Edelfelt I presume?" Rin asked the Magus casually firing on the trapped Sword Magus and she nodded.

"Rin Tohsaka?" Luviagelita asked and Rin nodded and the Edelfelt Magus turned to her." You were also a Master in the Fifth Holy Grail War, correct?"

"I'm afraid I was involved in that disaster of a Grail War, how do you even know that?" Rin looked to Shirou to see him shaking his head towards her.

"I'm researching the Grail War and it seems I'm very lucky, not only do I have two Masters but one of them is part of a founding family. So do you mind answering some questions for me?"

"No, I really don't feel like it."

"Then I guess I'll talk to him for a while longer." Luviagelita turned her attention back to Shirou who had almost gotten the knots keeping his hands behind his back with one of Luviagelita's Gandr slammed into his stomach and knocked the wind out of him and sent him into a violent coughing fit before a second Gandr sent his head snapping back.

A third Gandr from Luviagelita was knocked off course by one from Rin and the Edelfelt Magus turned to her while Shirou quickly shook off the Gandr as he looked at his armor for a moment and saw it patching itself shut.

'I didn't do anything there, what's going on with this thing?' Shirou thought.

"What do you think you're doing?" Rin demanded from Luviagelita with both Magus ready to shoot Gandr at the other.

"I'm getting information Tohsaka, no need to involve yourself in such a thing." Luviagelita fired another Gandr at Shirou and he was glad for his armor as it seemed to have been aimed to punch into his chest, a part where the armor was strongest.

"Can you please stop her?" Shirou was sent into another coughing fit as another Gandr knocked the wind out of him again." Dammit that is getting annoying!"

"Shirou, you can use that now."

"Finally!"

Shirou freed his wrist with a dagger suddenly in his hands and he cut the rope Luvia had tied his hands up with. He tossed the dagger up and it cut through the rope at his legs and he landed in a crouch on the ground with both hands out and red light taking a shape in them.

"I am the bo…"

Someone clapping drew his attention and with a glance from Rin the light died down as Zelretch walked out to the grounds with a group of Magus behind him.

"Alright, I've decided on who will be my apprentice." Zelretch announced before pointing to both Rin and Luviagelita." Both of you will act as one so get used to each other's presence as I'm not allowing either of you to leave the view of the other. If you do then I'll consider the apprenticeship over from your actions."

Zelretch didn't bother answering any of the questions fired at him as he walked away as he finished and Shirou walked over to a frozen Rin.

"You may want to leave them for a while, they're both in shock." Zelretch's words were ignored by Shirou as he walked up to Rin and shook her.

It seemed to snap her out of her daze and she turned to the stunned Luviagelita.

"Grab her and let's go, we're going back to the hotel."  
>"I don't see why we're even doing this, that guy seems like a whack job."<p>

Shirou sidestepped something thrown at him from behind while tossing Luviagelita over his shoulder and then grabbing Rin before he was a streak of red and black.

Gilgamesh eventually boarded the plane and wordlessly he took off, without a specific destination in mind.

"Arthuria, I wish to…"

"If this is another of your marriage proposals I will throw you out of this plane, understood?"

"Yes, I just wish to…"

"Ilya!" one of Ilya's maids screaming her name sent Arthuria rushing from her seat and found a convulsing Ilya held down by her maids.

"You have got to be kidding me." Gilgamesh whispered to himself as he mentally went through his treasury and drew out what could only be called a robot." Pilot, now."

Gilgamesh rushed to the back to see Ilya screaming as something appeared in her hands.

"Ilya, what's wrong?" Arthuria wasn't getting an answer from the screaming Ilya so she turned to her two maids." What's happening to her?"

"Neither of us have any idea, it may be part of her status as a Lesser Grail through." Gilgamesh really didn't bother learning the differences between the two maids so couldn't tell which one spoke." The Einzbern may have placed a failsafe."

"What?" Arthuria demanded, turning around and grabbing both maids." What is happening?"

"Recently the Einzbern family has split into several groups, one wished to continue the plan of obtaining the Third Magic they had lost, another wanted to harness the power of the Holy Grail and take control of the Mage's Association, their reasons are unknown to me, and another wanted to destroy Ilya after the Fourth Holy Grail War threatened to expose Magecraft. There are more but this is most likely the work of a branch of the second group, they wish to acquire the powers of Servants and strengthen themselves with it." Again, Gilgamesh had absolutely no idea which maid said it.

"Then how are they obtaining this power?" Arthuria let the two maids go and Gilgamesh immediately moved forward, his iron grip on their wrist stopping one of them from attacking with a knife.

"Illyasveil has been specially made to channel the spirits of the defeated Servants she stores into special containers that should be emerging now."

Ilya screamed as the convulsions stopped and instead she slumped forward with Saber catching her as Gilgamesh summoned his armor and restrained both maids, trusting neither at this point.

"And what are these containers?" Gilgamesh asked the maid who had been speaking the most but the other spoke.

"They've been named Class Cards, but the project was deemed ineffective and the system was proven to be unstable and destructive to the conduit the power is channeled through unless their body had had time to adjust to the power of a number of spirits for a still unknown amount of time, the plan was for Illyasveil to manifest them and we were to then retrieve them after the Grail War was prolonged long enough as planned."

At London Shirou kicked open the door leading to the balcony and set both Magus down on the couch while moving over to the chair he had sat in last night.

"You two should work this out, I'm going to watch for anyone who may attack." Shirou dragged the chair outside with him and a quick Reinforcement to the glass doors made it somewhat soundproof and tinted it.

Shirou barely sat down in the chair before his phone rang and he saw it was from Arthuria, he had given her a cellphone to call the two of them in emergencies and he cursed that it even needed to be used.

"Arthuria, what's wrong?"

"Ilya is in pain and I'm holding something called Class Cards in my hands, it's almost impossible to believe this but they can give Magus the power of a Servant." Arthuria's words had Shirou move the phone away from him.

"FUUUUUUUUUUU…."

Arthuria held the phone away from her ear at Shirou's very long curse.

"What is that?" Gilgamesh demanded as he strapped the two maids down, not trusting them even when they seemed to snap out of the trance they seemed to have been in when he arrived in the back.

"Shirou."

"Then tell him to shut up."

"…UUUUUCK!"

Shirou put the phone back to his ear after he was done and cleared his throat.

"Hold onto them and we'll be there soon with company." Shirou hung up before Arthuria could question him and stepped into the room to find it in shambles.

'Note to self: do not soundproof and tint doors again with those two in same room.'

Shirou followed the trail of destruction to the bedroom and the moment he opened the door he was blasted back by a pair of Gandr to his chest and he was glad for his armor being strongest there as he managed to stay on his feet and rush into the room moments later.

"Rin, we've got a problem with Ilya and if either of you shoot me again I will hurt you." Shirou's threat seemed to work as neither fired at him again.

"What's wrong with Ilya?" Rin asked after a moment and Shirou gave a pointed look to Luvigelita to which Rin made a dismissive gesture." If she becomes a problem she can be killed easily, now tell me what's wrong with her."

"Short and simple, Magus can gain the full power of Servants from something that happened with Ilya." Rin pinched the bridge of her nose in annoyance and turned to Luvigelita.

"What you see you do not tell to anyone or else you and everyone involved and in the surrounding area will be killed, understood?" Rin's words were answered with a nod and she turned to Shirou.

"Set a meeting point and get us a way there." Rin turned from Shirou to Luviagelita." You're coming with me to clean this mess up."

"Who put you as the leader?" Luviagelita demanded almost instantly before turning and pointing at Shirou." And what is he talking about?"

"Long story short, the Grail War was a catastrophe every time so anyone involved was lucky to survive and it looks like there's a problem leftover from it so we've got to deal with it." Rin wasn't even looking at Luviagelita as she spoke and instead kept her attention on Shirou." Any idea on how they get the power?"

"Arthuria said something about Class Cards but couldn't say much." Shirou nodded towards Luviagelita." Do I kill her now or later?"

"Neither of you are killing me, I'm studying the Holy Grail and this is the best opportunity I'll ever have and neither of you are going to stop me from taking it." Luviagelita seemed ready to fight both of them and with a nod from Rin the Sword Magus was gone from the room she turned to the Edelfelt Magus.

Shirou ignored everything as he sat on the floor and visualized Unlimited Blade Works in his mind.

'Let's see if I've picked up that trick from Archer.'

"I am the bone of my sword."

Fire flooded the room and everywhere it spread a desert of blackened sand filled with swords took its place.

"Steel if my body and fire is my blood."

Shirou saw new blades appear around him but ignored them.

"I have created over a thousand blades."

The desert around him seemed to grow and a sea of blades began to form, the sand around him beginning to move as winds began.

"Unknown to Death, Nor known to Life."

The blowing sand began taking shape and the number of blades grew.

"Have wit…"

Shirou's hands clutched at his throat as he was lifted into the air.

"Do you really think you could use this without me killing you in it? This world is MINE you brat, remember that."

Shirou found himself slamming into the wall of the hotel with the weapon filled desert around him gone.

"Damn, he's stronger than I thought." Shirou slowly made his way back to his feet using the wall as support." And he's still trying to kill me."

Shirou didn't really understand what He was doing there but the Sword Magus could take a guess.

'I guess Unlimited Blade Works really is out, some part of Archer is still inside it and he won't let me use it. That's just my luck, my best ability, really my only one, and I can't manifest it fully right now.'

Shirou felt a stinging pain in his hand seconds later and with some effort the multitude of small blades emerging from it receded and the skin knitted itself back together.

'And that's going to get annoying if I don't get it back and soon or else that will get me killed.'

* * *

><p>AN: Well, I could do with some feedback on this chapter since it still seems messed up to me even after reading it over and editing it a few times.<p>

Peace.


	10. Chapter 10

Disclaimer: I do not own or claim to own Fate/stay night in any way shape of form and I am not attempting to or making a profit from this work of fiction in any way shape of form.

AN: Alright, sorry for this chapter being out so late but I had no ideas for this story for the majority of the month.

* * *

><p>For one Sakura Matou all there was to her was the void. She didn't know how long she had been inside and only remembered how.<p>

_"__Sakura, what you are facing are an unlimited number of blades, you've seen this once before but I didn't want to use this on you in the first place and I had other things to deal with. But now, now I understand that if I want to save you I have to come at you with everything I've got."_

_ "__So, Sakura, are you ready?"_

Shirou attacked her, ripped away her power with his and it was nearly suicide but he still tried to save her. She remembered seeing his desperate grab for her when the shadows finally ran out of control as she lost her power, screaming for her to grab his hand. She even remembered his scream, the anguish and rage behind it when he realized he'd lost her to the void she found herself trapped in. She could feel the pain he felt, the failure and guilt at having lost her and she hated seeing him like that. Shirou was supposed to be strong, a source of strength for anyone nearby, someone they could always look to when things became bad. It was because of seeing him like that she'll escape from here, to make sure he doesn't feel that pain again and definitely not because of her. She would get out of the void and show him how much he meant to her when she did, she wouldn't let her fears get in the way again.

Unknown to any of the occupants on the plane, Sakura was slowly coming back as the markings that had spread across her skin at her possession began fading.

In London Rin dragged Luviagelita out with her when she heard a thud and saw Shirou climbing to his feet as fires raced around him and were fading.

"What happened?" Rin's question went unanswered for a moment as Shirou regained his bearings.

"It's nothing, just a little accident on my part." Shirou answered before slowly standing up and looking at both Magus." So, have things been cleared up between you two?"

"This is too great a source of information to leave to Tohsaka and some lackey she brought with her, I will be going to actually put it to use." Luviagelita stepped forward and Shirou chuckled quietly to himself.

"Well, that is going to be interesting." Shirou turned his attention to Rin and the Tohsaka Magus merely sighed.

"This is still a problem I need to fix, let's get going." Rin received a nod from Shirou before he was a blur and they were outside the hotel room and landing on a rooftop nearby.

In the plane Arthuria was trying to get a trembling Ilya to speak to him as Gilgamesh questioned the maids in the back.

"Ilya, what happened to you? Is there anything at all you can tell me?" Arthuria asked but Ilya wouldn't respond." What were you doing before it happened? Please tell me something Ilya."

"Death…pain…fire…death…pain…fire…" Ilya seemed to be repeating those three words now and Arthuria was glad she would at least talk now.

"Ilya, what do those words mean?" Arthuria gently pressed but Ilya kept repeating those three words.

"Death…pain…fire…"

Gilgamesh walked up to him at that moment and seemed annoyed.

"It seemed to have been a recorded message, neither of them seem to remember anything." Gilgamesh turned to Ilya and slowly reached for the cards in her hand.

Arthuria very quickly grabbed his hand, just in time as what was a blast of Prana would have killed her if he hadn't pulled her out of the way.

"Don't even try it, it looks like an automatic defense." Arthuria let go of Gilgamesh very quickly and turned her attention back to Ilya." Any ideas what she means with those words?"

"Death, pain, fire." Gilgamesh repeated the words quietly to himself but could find no way to link them together." I have no idea, perhaps Tohsaka or the Faker will know something we don't."

"Hopefully." Arthuria spoke as she moved away and dialed a number on the phone Shirou had given her.

In London Shirou stopped and quickly his phone was pressed to his ear.

"Arthuria, any news on Ilya?"

"Yes, but nothing good as she has begun to speak but she only repeats three words now: Death, pain, and fire. I thought it best to call you and ask if you have any idea to link them. Neither I or Gilgamesh have come up with anything yet."

"Maybe, it's a guess on my part and it doesn't make any sense."

"Anything would do right now."

"I'm thinking of the fire ten years ago. Countless died, that being death, while others were burned severely before dying and the friends and family lost could be the pain, and fire is obvious with it burning down that part of Fuyuki. It's just a guess on my part and it's probably wrong but it's something."

"You've at least given me an idea Shirou, thank you."

Arthuria hung up at that and Shirou merely sighed as he slipped the phone back into her pocket.

The creature that was once Shinji Matou attacked, hands shifting into foot long claws that ripped its prey to pieces in an instant and seconds later shadows consumed the body, drawing itself back to the creature in moments. The creature ignored the screams from their food, this was just one of their many victims and they were slowly getting stronger the more they killed and absorbed into them with the more evil prey always giving him the most strength.

The worms filling its body drew the energy to them and the creature went in search of more prey to gather more energy before the worms feasted on it all and soon changed their diet to it.

Timeskip…

Shirou, Rin, and Luviagelita boarded the landed plane and Shirou immediately rushed over to Ilya.

She still repeated death, pain, and fire and the moment Shirou touched her she screamed and he was thrown away in an instant as a bright flash of red light consumed Ilya and on instinct Kanshou and Bakuya appeared in Shirou's hands.

"Ilya?" Shirou asked as the light died down and he lowered his swords as he took a cautious step forward.

"Mistress!" Sella and Leysritt, Ilya's two maids screamed as they rushed past Shirou and directly into the light and Shirou knew something bad was going to happen so moved on Archer's inherited instinct.

When the mass of building Prana erupted from the light Shirou had grabbed both Rin and Luvia and threw them out the plane through the door while holding out his hand, his palm pointed at the light.

"Rho Aias!"

Instead of one seven-petal barrier, eight appeared in front of Shirou where he immediately collapsed and the explosion ripped through all but the last petal of the seventh barrier. Quantity took place over quality to Shirou at that moment and he panted for breath even as he felt something rip through his left arm, blood already pouring from it as it hung limply at his side.

'I've got to work on that still.' Shirou thought before he found a far too bright light in front of him.

_ "__I am the bone of my sword."_

_It wasn't hard turning to face the kneeling army behind and what was certain death him but it was more difficult than he could imagine to push her aside, trying to make sure she stayed safe while he died._

_ "__Stand aside trash, give her to us now!" a voice ordered from the army and the man who would later be known only as Archer chuckled as his body flashed with a deep crimson light._

_ "__I can't really do something like that." Archer spoke as he held his hands out at his side and seconds later the married swords known as Kanshou and Bakuya appeared in them and he found himself comforted as his hands wrapped around the twin hilts." And besides, you'll have to kill me to take her."_

_ "__So be it." The voice snapped as the army in front of him rose to their feet in unison and the figure at the head of them drew a sword from their side._

_ "__Kill him!"_

_ "__Steel is my body and fire is my blood." Archer continued even as he shot forward, ripping through the corrupted flesh of the undead army in front of him as he made his way to the person he needed to kill to end it all._

_ "__Archers!" a voice screamed and Archer found himself close to laughing as thousands of different arrows rained down on him from a thousand different bows._

_ "__Trace on."_

_They were responded to by his own weapons as he tapped into more and more of the powers of his one and only spell._

_ "__Shirou!" a voice screamed but the white haired Magus ignored the scream, focusing only on the army he had to destroy even as more undead rose from the ground around him._

_ "__Do you think this is going to stop me bastard!" Archer roared as he threw his two blades forward, erupting into impressive explosions as they ripped through the undead army._

_Decades of nearly constant battle showed themselves as Archer ripped apart his enemies with brutal precision, always working towards the Vampire he aimed to rip apart as violently as possible._

_ "__I have created over a thousand blades." Archer allowed his body to shift into blades at the third line and his attack began anew, his body actually morphing itself into blades as he continued his attack without mercy, ripping through anything in his way._

_ "__Fire!" the Vampire ordered and a new wave of archers rose out of the ground and fired another volley at Archer who didn't bother dodging it, allowing the projectiles to bounce off of his skin even if it shredded his clothes and dented his armor._

_ '__Huh, Rin is going to kill me for messing that shroud up.' Archer thought with a small grin before a pike was rammed through his chest and instead of blood pouring from his mouth and he collapsing he simply grabbed onto the pike with a grin and it shifted into a mass of blades before cracks ran through it as Archer tossed it away and into the army surrounding him._

_ "__Let's test your limits, shall we boy?" the Vampire asked and without a word another wave of undead rose from the ground, this time heavily armored and wielding massive swords and shields as they charged Archer as a stampede and a wall of steel shields and swords._

_ "__Is this all you have!" Archer demanded and with a thought flames encircled his arms before a rain of blades shot forward and ripped through the undead in front of him as he seemed to shatter into a mass of blades before they shot forward, moving in a formation as they ripped through the undead in their way without slowing down as they neared the Vampire, shifting into Black Keys as they did so._

_They didn't hit the Vampire as they instead collected in front of him and Archer rested in a crouch in front of the Vampire, panting for breath as he looked down at his hands, the mass of blades surrounding it giving it a silver color before it slowly receded with a thought from Archer. The Magus slowly rose to his feet as Kanshou and Bakuya once again appeared in his hands and he grinned despite the army turning its attention to him and he noticed Magus rising from the ground around him now, the Vampire in front of him chanting something with Prana pouring into the ground around him._

_ "__You will make a fine warrior Emiya, perhaps even someone to stand by my side if your power continues to grow." The Vampire spoke and Archer chuckled to himself as he felt himself consumed in a crimson flash before his armor was repaired and strengthened several times over, a personal set he created for this exact moment._

_ "__I highly doubt that, I don't serve garbage like you." Archer spoke as he raised his swords." Now, enough talking, I want to see how long it takes to kill you."_

_ "__If you insist in killing yourself than I am fine with it, your child will most likely do the job just as fine as yours." The Vampire answered and Archer saw red and everything else after those words were horrible to watch._

_Archer, in simple words, Broke himself and detonated with the force of a nuclear bomb, wiping out the Vampire, their army, and the many Bounded Field around the castle they fought at that allowed them to raise up a limitless amount of undead. _

_ "__Impressive." The Vampire spoke as they looked over to the collapsed Archer, blades ripping through his back and causing him to scream as Unlimited Blade Works ran wild after such an action." You will make a great servant to me Emiya." _

_Archer was in too much pain to even bother responding as the Vampire felt his current body burn away as someone entered his collapsing Bounded Field, Bounded Fields that had stood since the dawn of the world._

Shirou woke with a start and found himself looking up into Rin's face as she sat with his head on her lap.

"So, what did you see?" Rin asked him after a moment but received no response as Shirou focused on his hand, needing to know himself that it wasn't just a mass of steel colored to look like flesh and Rin sighed as she cupped his hand with her own, removing them from his white hair and he noticed some of it twisted into a braid on the side of his head." Archer was fighting him again, right?"

"Yes." Shirou spoke after a moment, hating the eyes he knew were the last thing Archer saw in his life." They restarted again."

"This is the third time." Rin told him and Shirou slowly sat up." It happens every time you strain yourself, perhaps you should keep yourself from doing things like this?"

"I can't, I know there's more to it all and it may help with 'that' problem." Shirou told the Tohsaka Magus who looked annoyed but nodded.

"You are still incredibly annoying by the way, I've never heard of someone losing a spell like that so easily." Rin told him as she stood to her feet and Shirou only shrugged while he stretched." And especially a spell with so many different uses, if you learned to us it properly that is."

"To be fair I don't think it's mine." Shirou told Rin before walking away, for now ignoring her questioning look as he fixed the parts of the shroud covering his arms, finding them a bit torn as he looked them over.

"Faker." Shirou cursed at the voice and turned to see Gilgamesh who leaned against the landing gear of the jet with his arms cross and looking towards the forest, his voice carrying a disinterested tone." How long do you think you can hide it from her?"

"Long enough to fix it." Shirou answered after a long moment of silence and Gilgamesh chuckled as he began walking towards the forest, gesturing for Shirou to follow him.

"Follow me boy." Gilgamesh ordered the Sword Magus who was surprised at the use of anything besides Faker from the King of Heroes so mindlessly followed the Servant.

They walked for what seemed like hours, heading deep into the forest around the jet and Gilgamesh eventually stopped in front of a massive tree, easily the size of the skyscrapers of the present and the King of Heroes was uncharacteristically somber as he gently laid his hand onto the tree trunk, his red eyes focusing on the ancient bark in front of him and his hand gently running over the rough texture of it.

"This tree is one of the few remnants of my kingdom, I and my companion planted it ages ago, a time so long ago I no longer remember the reason why we did so." Gilgamesh spoke and Shirou was silent, knowing the Babylonian King had brought him to the tree for a specific reason." Many of the things we did are only memories to me now, the whys for them having long since turned pointless. You may ask the obvious question you have now."

"If you insist then I'll ask, why did you bring me here?" Shirou's question was answered by Gilgamesh beginning the climb the tree.

Shirou figured he should follow and did so, keeping pace with Gilgamesh who stopped near the top, sitting on one of the thicker branches near the top of the massive tree.

"Use your Magecraft and see what your King sees." Gilgamesh ordered after a moment as his eyes turned to look at the perfect view of the forest.

Shirou was hesitant but after a moment he used Structural Analysis on the tree and was amazed at what he saw, nearly falling off the tree to certain death if a golden net Gilgamesh cast out of the Gate of Babylon hadn't caught him, Shirou still far too stunned to even register he was no longer falling.

"This can't be real." Shirou whispered to himself and Gilgamesh only chuckled as he plucked a fruit from the tree and took a bite of it.

"It is very real boy, very real." Gilgamesh told Shirou.

Arthuria walked with Ilya, having recovered while Shirou was unconscious but found herself still racked with random spasms of pain lasting from seconds to minutes and so Arthuria now followed her as she walked, ready to help her if another spasm overtook her while she was out in the forest.

"Ilya, can you tell me anything about the current conflict in the Einzberns?" Arthuria noticed Ilya's body tense but the former Lesser Grail nodded nonetheless.

"There's not much to say, only that most of them are idiots." Ilya answered dismissively as she turned to look at the flowers." The Einzbern in general may be masters of creating Homunculi like myself they just like every other Magus don't really change that much, we're still obsessed with the Holy Grail and Akasha. With the recent fractions things have only gotten worse as Homunculi can be made to do almost anything, ranging from Prana supplying factories to trained warriors. Even myself, I may not look like much but I have enough power at my disposal to keep Berserker filled with energy and even resupply his lives given time." Ilya answered as she stopped next to a patch of brightly colored flowers." I was experimented on after the Fourth Grail War ended and I guess that's when a traitor added the Class Cards system to my body."

"Will they be coming for you?" Arthuria asked and Ilya found herself laughing.

"I didn't think you were that slow Saber, of course they will." Ilya answered before walking ahead.

Ahead of Ilya the bushes were pushed aside and Arthuria didn't hesitate to summon her armor and weapon to her while using Prana Burst to move forward and see who was ahead of them.

"Don't attack me my Queen." Gilgamesh spoke as he walked out onto the path." I am not your enemy."

Arthuria stopped herself mere centimeters away from cutting down Gilgamesh and dismissed her armors and weapons for the moment while seeing Shirou exit the woods behind Gilgamesh.

"What happened to you on the plane? You began to scream before Rin pulled outside." Arthuria asked him and Shirou shrugged.

"I have even less of an idea as you about what happened." Shirou lied to the former Servant because he highly doubted she would let him out of her sight, or even keep him alive for that matter, if she knew about what was happening." So, can you give me any ideas?"

"None." Arthuria answered and Gilgamesh turned to Ilya.

"How long do you think you will last Homunculus?" Gilgamesh asked the Lesser Grail who shrugged.

"I have no idea as it could perhaps a few months, perhaps a few years, or perhaps a few hours if I'm extremely unlucky." Ilya answered nad Gilgamesh snorted.

"Of course you don't, you were of no help in this." Gilgamesh told her as he walked back towards the plane." I will be at the jet, don't make me wait more than a few hours."

"Arthuria, head back with him to make sure he doesn't do anything stupid." Shirou told her as he walked up to Ilya." I'll keep an eye on my sister."

"Don't wander too far, we will depart soon." Arthuria told him, somewhat hesitant to leave but after some thinking she figured she could reach the two if something happened before Ilya was hurt.

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><p>AN: Well leave a review if you have any plot ideas.<p>

Peace.


	11. Chapter 11

Disclaimer: I do own or claim to own any recognizable and/or licensed material appearing in this work of fiction in any way, shape, or form with all recognizable and/or licensed material belonging to their respective owners in all way, shape, or form to the full extent of the law they are under. I am not attempting to or making a monetary profit from this work of fiction in any way, shape or form. This written purely for entertainment of the reader.

AN: Well, I'm sorry for the few months this story wasn't updated. I seriously had a lack of idea where to take this chapter and I think it can be seen here. It was hard to write and I only got this far by adding to it every once and a while. Again I am sorry for the long wait for the next chapter (one I think could be way better but I didn't want to postpone this anymore). Please accept my deepest apologies for this.

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><p>The creature known as Zouken Matou decided to simply observe for now as most things were heading in a favorable direction and those that weren't could be remedied at a later point. Of course nothing could be done until he acquired Sakura once again, perhaps the Tohsaka as well. Given a few days he could dissolve Sakura into a new stronger body and perhaps if he was lucky he could also capture one of the two Servants with the Magus. But all of those would be worth nothing if he could capture Kiritsuga's adopted son, the boy was already marked and had a powerful Reality Marble he could change into something much stronger upon possessing him.<p>

Of course such a process would destroy the boy's spirit but Zouken had done countless similar things throughout his long existence so it hardly mattered to him. Through all of his plans were useless as he was nothing but a single Crest Worm for now, the blasted Tohsaka and her Jewel Magecraft destroyed all but one of them so he had to make due until he could find another nest amongst the rubble of his once great home but it was harder than one would think when one was so small.

He had hoped to use his hold over Sakura to help him get the boy's power during the Fifth Holy Grail War once he had discovered his unique status but that plan had failed rather easily. Kiritsuga surely knew no boundaries if he had delved so deep into the Grail War, somehow he had constructed a very special summoning for a Heroic Spirit and Zouken was truly surprised that Alaya hadn't stepped in and stopped the summoning. He actually wouldn't be surprised if Kiritsuga had even planned for that and it helped to partly explain the boy's such rapid growth.

But in the end, he would succeed so the method did not matter as long as he could gain the boy's power. Something only patience would allow and patience was one of his strongest abilities as well.

Elsewhere…

Shirou dragged a rather immature Illya back onto the plane an hour or so after Arthuria had arrived and the Einzbern sat down in her seat with a huff and her arms crossed. It was hard for Shirou to believe that someone who was technically older than him could look like that, even pouting at him. But then again, he did know Taiga Fujimaru and she was sometimes worse than Illya.

"I still don't see why I can't have one too." Illya was obviously annoyed at whatever happened between her and Shirou and the Sword Magus simply sighed, one hand smoothing back his white hair for a moment before sitting down at a small table across from Rin and handing her a flower.

"These flowers are special and I need them to help accelerate how fast I can fill a Jewel for my Magecraft, you don't need them since you're a walking power battery half the time." Rin's tone was distracted as she carefully moved the flower around in her hands and seemed to be satisfied as she put it away into a case.

"Rin, where is Luviagelita?" Shirou regretted asking the question but he figured they couldn't forget about the Magus that Zelretch had basically forced them to bring with them on what was most definitely a future disaster in the making.

"I may have…"

"Tied her up and thrown her into the closet next to you, the one you've been conveniently leaning against while silently locking it with Magecraft? I am correct, right?" Shirou was glad for Archer's knowledge when it came to dealing with Rin and she only nodded and it was with a sigh that Shirou allowed a skeleton like dagger to appear in his hands and throw it at the closet, instantly freeing Luviagelita from the closet but not releasing her from the bonds.

"Rin, please bring Luviagelita with you to the back. We have a lot to talk about before we take off." Shirou didn't really leave Rin time to argue as he stood up and left the room, his mind elsewhere at the moment. Rin, instead of getting angry, simply sighed for a moment before dragging Luviagelita out of her seat and throwing her over her shoulder before following after him.

"_Hm, I'm not surprised you're as beautiful as I remembered you to be. It's nice to see you again, Rin." Archer stood in the doorway to Rin's study, a worn but durable looking dark red backpack slung over his shoulder with a deep crimson shirt and black pants on. _

"_Shirou! How did you even get here? How did you get through my Bounded Fields?" Rin seemed surprised as she looked up from her book and rose out of her chair and Archer simply smirked as he walked further into the room.  
><em>

_"You left them open to me a long time ago Rin, did you really forget something like that?" Archer was now in front of her with only her desk separating the two of them._

"_It's been five years without a single damn word you bastard! Of course I forgot something like that!" Rin snapped at him, rage filling her voice and Archer looked away for a moment, his eyes closed before he turned them back to Rin._

"_I'm sorry for that but i…"_

_A slap resounded across the room and Archer seemed dumbstruck as Rin refused to look at him, her hair shadowing her eyes and her hands balled into fists, the muscles at her neck straining as she held herself back._

"_Out." One hand rose to wave towards the door as Archer seemed frozen, more shocked than he would like to admit at Rin's single word._

"_Rin.." Archer couldn't seem to think of words at this point as he blindly reached out to the woman he loved, who he would to anything for. His mind was blank as it tried to understand what Rin was telling him._

"_Get out!" Rin had to trouble speaking and her Prana was beginning to leak from her and into something at her side. _

"_Rin, please lis…" Archer tried to think of anything, anything at all to say but his words failed him yet again._

"_I said GET OUT!" Rin's eyes looked up into his own and Archer took a step back at the sheer amount of rage in her eyes at the sight of him." Get out or DIE!"_

_The jewel tipped cane that was once leaning against her desk was now pointed at Archer and he rose his hands in surrender as he walked away, a card gently falling to rest on the page Rin was reading in her book._

"_Do call when you think you're up to it." Archer closed the door behind him and silently walked out of the large and empty Tohsaka Manor. _

Shirou loosened his grip on the door frame and gently pried his fingers out of the indents his strength had left as the memory struck him, a wave of his hand later and the frame was repaired and he silently stepped into the room and sat down in one of the comfortable leather chairs surrounding a conference table.

His mind was running rampart, trying to piece together the odd events he was being shown of Archer's life with great difficulty as each cycle may have had some constants but some were always different. The only constants were of the flashes of images he got when he first experienced one of Archer's memories. One of the single figure, most likely Archer or someone close to him, against an army, another of the doves that flew above Archer, the third was the golden light which he figured was Gilgamesh doing something, the fourth was the moon and Shirou had tried but still knew nothing on why he was seeing the image, he had a guess on what the fifth one was but also hoped he was dead wrong.

His thoughts were interrupted when the door opened behind him and Rin walked in and threw the still bound Luviagelita onto the couch in the room and sat down next to him in another chair.

"So, do you have any reasons for dragging me into the conference room?" Rin asked once she realized Shirou was not going to speak, he simply injected Luviagelita with something and it knocked her out the moment she had walked into the room with her.

"I simply want to give you something." Shirou answered with a small grin and with a small flourish an ornate dagger appeared on the table in front of him before he pushed it over to Rin.

"This is…" Rin was in too much shock to actually speak properly so Shirou finished her sentence for her.

"A modified Rule Breaker, an insurance policy you could say." Shirou answered and Rin gently picked up the weapon Shirou had handed her.

"Why are you giving me this?" Rin asked after a moment and Shirou simply sighed as after a moment he rolled up his sleeve and Rin noticed the many small blades sprouting from his skin for a moment before they receded.

"I'm dying the longer I'm forced to use these abilities that aren't my own. Since I don't want to die in agony I've decided I'm going to trust you with this, I've modified it several times over and have the perfect weapon. Just use it like a jewel and it'll get the job done." Shirou answered ad Rin gave him a pointed look that made him chuckle despite the situation.

"Ah, always freshening to see your natural suspicion Rin. But if you really do wish to know then I'll tell you, I'm giving you Rule Breaker since I don't have many people I can actually rely on to finish me off if it comes to it." Shirou answered as he leaned back in his seat, closing his eyes and crossing his arms over his chest." Saber would be too hesitant to kill me if it came to it, Gilgamesh would immediately kill me if I gave him the knife, Illyasveil would hesitate on doing it and it could cost us all later, and everyone else is either untrustworthy or not available at the moment."

Rin, despite all reasoning against it, began laughing as she really began thinking over what Shirou had just told her, her laughter turning nearly mad as she fell onto the table and continued laughing even then. Shirou waited for a moment but as it continued for longer than he thought was necessary he was close to threatening Rin to stop, nothing about the information he was about to tell her funny at all.

"So, what's so funny Rin?" Shirou was clearly not amused as he idly checked a katana he had Traced into existence and gently ran his fingers over the blade, runes burning themselves into sight along the blade and following the path his fingers made.

"It's not just funny, it's hilarious that you would trust me with killing you! You really think that little of me, don't you?" Rin's laughter had steadily changed into sobs as she spoke. "Am I really that heartless to you, Shirou?"

Shirou's silence didn't help Rin in stopping a long building breakdown but he gently laid a hand on her shoulder, his closed eyes opening as he turned to face her.

"I'm not saying your heartless, I'm saying you'll make the right choice if it comes to it." Rin felt something enter her skin and with a frown Shirou withdrew his hand from her shoulder, showing the many blades spreading through it before he brought them under control and they receded into his skin." The fact is, I'm going to die in agony and that is inescapable. I really don't want that, frankly, I'm terrified of dying like this. I know I have less than ten years left in my life and that's only if I'm lucky and don't have to fight anymore. The more I use my Magic Circuits, the worse and worse this gets and since I know I have to fight I'll be dead before this is all over."

"This is what your Reality Marble does to you?" Rin was surprised, she had never heard of anything close to what Shirou was going through and the Sword Magus only chuckled, a dark smirk moving over his face. Sure, she had known that some Reality Marbles manifest on the user, causing changes despite not being actively used but this was a first for her, she had never heard of anything like Shirou's case.

"I really am just a blade now, aren't I?" Shirou gave another humorless chuckle as he for the first time truly thought of his fate. "I'll slowly turn into nothing but a blade, that's my fate."

The problem of not accepting one's fate until forced to clearly showed as Shirou's laughter took on a maniac quality as his eyes held a mad light in them as he continued laughing. He was looking very similar to how Rin was only a few moments ago.

"I'm going to die in the worst way possible, I'll feel myself turning into nothing but blades and can't do a damn thing about it!"

Rin felt more than saw Shirou losing himself as tears poured from his eyes even as he continued to laugh, losing himself in the certainty of his fate.

"I'll fail Kiritsuga, I'll fail Sakura, I'll fail everyone and I can't do a thing about it! This isn't even something I can fight! I can't overpower it, I can't trap it, I can't beat it! There's nothing I can do but die!"

"What if the Reality Marble was extracted?" Rin's question seemed to bring Shirou back and he stopped laughing, Rin's words helping to bring him back to himself, as he turned his steel grey eyes onto the Tohsaka Magus.

"Won't work I'm afraid." Shirou leaned back in his chair as he allowed his left sleeve to burn away and reveal his arm, burning red markings completely covering it and still spreading as the shroud and armor continued to move away until his entire torso was left bare. "My Reality Marble wasn't luck, I was born to have it no matter what happened, it would still develop and eventually consume me."

"I'm not following, what could possible make someone have a Reality Marble?" Rin's question wasn't easy to answer and Shirou only shook his head.

"I have no idea and the one man who could actually tell me is dead, or at least gone from this timeline." Shirou had a thoughtful look on his face, remembering the man who was his greatest ally for a short time as well as his greatest enemy.

"Archer, he knew all of this then?" Rin was honestly surprised as she asked, knowing nothing but Archer's status as a rather unique Servant.

"Of course." Shirou told her as he gestured to his arm. "This through, I know something about this, none of it good."

"Then what is it?" Rin looked at the marking on Shirou's body.

"Look closely." Shirou's words made little sense to Rin but she did, using Reinforcement to increase her eyesight and stunned at what she saw, stun swiftly shifting into horror as she looked up at Shirou, Rin suddenly noting the similarities between Shirou and a certain spirit.

"It…" Rin couldn't bring herself to ask her fears, hating to even think of her suspicion being true.

"Yes, part of it at least possessed me." Shirou looked down at the markings on his arm, letting out a few dark chuckles as he looked down at the markings. "The curses of mankind weave themselves onto my skin, becoming one with me as time passes. Such a concept is incredible if it wasn't turning me into the Incarnation of Curses."

"How is this even possible?" Rin grabbed his arm, running her fingers over the curses, most of it written in a language no one of this era would ever understand. "Gilgamesh said he saw the spirit flee from the Grail before he destroyed it, he said it was too weak to pose a threat and would fade away given time! How did it get into you?"

"It was mainly my own fault, part of it is your fault, and part of it is Sakura's fault. It all circumstantial things that alone would cause a slight problem but together they made something like this happen." Shirou briefly sighed before he pointed to himself as he spoke.

"My fault in this is my summoning of Archer, more specifically, my old man and his plans that revolved around me. He looked into a variety of things, mainly summoning spirits, binding spirits into a specific medium, and the process of summoning a Heroic Spirit, all of this, including my merging with Archer created a, for lack of a better way to describe it, hole in my Soul, something that would have been patched up long before we faced off against the Corrupted Grail."

"Then I turned you into my Servant, it stopped the hole from healing, correct? What I did kept it from healing like it normally would have." Rin looked away, she was still sickened at what she had done to him, everything she did to him out of a fear she had lived with for almost her entire life.

"Precisely, a Servant is connected to their Master and that connection kept the hole in my Soul opened, you acted as the physical anchor, such a thing was what allowed Archer to exit into the world once I was possessed by Sakura." Shirou couldn't help himself, he still shook slightly, briefly closing his eyes as he tried to fight off the visions that almost instantly shot to the forefront of his mind talking about what happened. Rin gently grabbed his hand when she noticed this and he shot her a small grateful smile before he took in a deep breath and Rin continued for him.

"And then Sakura possessed you after I turned you into a Servant, this made the hole in your soul worse, right?" Shirou only nodded at Rin's words, gesturing for her to continue as he seemed to fully get himself under control again. "This allowed a path for Angra Mainyu, at least a part of him at least, to enter your soul and those are the marks on your arms, the results of his spirit binding itself to you and projecting its powers onto your physical self."

"Bingo." Shirou waved his unmarked arm at the curses spreading over his skin. "Eventually I'll be sharing my body with the spirit of the Third War's Avenger, if things go as I planned then I'll be able to cleanse any residual taint in the Grail given time."

"You won't survive it through, you're lucky you managed to merge with Archer's soul like you did, any other and the process will kill you." Rin's words were met with a grim smile by Shirou, showing he knew what would happen.

"I figured something like that would happen and, when it does happen, I'll be ready for it." Shirou waved his hand over the markings on his arm yet again.

"You'll be ready to die then?" Rin was clearly displeased with Shirou's plans for the future but didn't truly show it, not snapping at him.

"Hopefully I'll already be too far from saving." Shirou spoke his words low, disliking the idea of people going out of their way for him.

"So no one tries to save you, you'll be suffering long before Avenger can completely merge with you." Rin resisted the urge to hit Shirou, deciding to go for a more subtle approach when it came to dealing with him and the twisted mindset that gave him his Reality Marble.

"Exactly, but the Rule Breaker I gave you is not only my insurance but also a backup plan for this. If I die before I can take Avenger with me, if he gains access to my Reality Marble, he'll twist it into something more fitting to him and I can't allow that to happen." Shirou's hands briefly tightened into fists as he spoke of Avenger gaining possession of his body before he briefly nodded towards Rule Breaker, the blade laying on the table in front of Rin. "The knife will shatter my connection to my inner self if you stab me with it, it will destroy any connections I have with my soul, leaving Avenger trapped in a body made out of blades."

"So he'll just animate it, it can draw power directly from the Grail Shirou, even if we destroyed the physical form it still exists as long as Servants do."

The look Shirou gave her was more than enough answer for her, she knew his entire plan and looked away from him. Unbidden, her minds drew out the memory of Archer's betrayal…

"_Ah, I should have known you'll come out of hiding once the fighting had finished, that's just like you, Kirei." Rin was not amused at the Fake Priest, the Grail War had dragged on for far too long and he had just now revealed himself to the Masters still left._

"_I apologize Rin but I had to remain impartial during these events, even if they risked to reveal Magecraft. I am loyal to the duties assigned to me by the Holy Church."_

"_Do you have anything important to say Kotomine?" Shirou was leaning heavily against Rin, his body exhausted after not only dealing with Sakura but the army the Grail possessed from her. "If you don't, get out of our way."_

_Kirei simply smirked at the exhausted Sword Magus, his struggles to even remain standing an amusing sight for the Fake Priest. His attempts to glare at the amused Priest only made it worse as he fought to keep his eyes open while trying to do so._

"_Kotomine, I suggest you answer the question." Archer stepped forward, the married swords Kanshou and Bakuya appearing in his hands as he did so. "Either do so or leave."_

"_My, my, what an unruly Servant you are, threatening the War's Moderator like this. I'm almost surprised your Master allows you to do this even." Kirei's eyes locked onto Shirou, already knowing everything about his and Archer's situation. "I wonder which one of them could put up with you, perhaps the Einzbern made such a foolish decision? No, I recall Berserker perishing not too many days ago, Tohsaka would have snapped by now so that leaves only Emiya, the Magus that Kiritsugu himself adopted and trained."_

"_Leave my father out of this you.." Shirou's lurch forward in anger proved detrimental as Rin barely managed to keep hold of him from his sudden movement, both nearly falling to the ground._

"_Kirei, it is best for you to leave if you have no information for the Grail War." Gilgamesh materialized his physical form, gold dust spiraling as it formed his body. "A King grows annoyed when their servants drivel on and on, do you wish to suffer for such a thing?"_

_The Gate of Babylon opened behind Gilgamesh with a lazy wave of one hand, three or four portals opening above his head. Kirei acknowledged the very real threat now in front of him and rose his hands up in the universal gesture for surrender, very much not wanting to face even a single weapon from King of Kings' limitless treasury._

_"Please do not attack me my King, I simply wish to inform the remaining two Masters that the Holy Grail War may now off..." Kirei's words were cut off as blood splattered on the ground in front of him._

_"Be quiet."_

_"What have you've done!" Saber screamed and, despite her exhaustion at the long battle she had just endured, charged Archer as he threw Kirei's dying body aside. "How dare y.."_

_Three floating swords ripped into Saber's stomach seconds later and she collapsed only a few centimeters from the suddenly traitorous Servant. Gilgamesh, oddly enough, did nothing, simply stepping forward to crouch down next to the collapsed Saber, examining her wounds before grabbing one of the swords in his armored hand. The swords shattered into red light the moment Gilgamesh touched them and Shirou slowly pushed away from Rin, glaring at the impassive Archer._

_"So, is this it? Is this when you try to kill me again?" Shirou struggled to remain on his feet without Rin's help but he kept her back from the upcoming fight he knew was coming. "Is this when you betray everyone you've fought with Archer!"_

_"You don't know a damn thing." Archer's voice was the opposite of Shirou's enraged one, almost deadly calm as his impassive glaze stayed locked with Shirou's own, brimming with anger as he stared at the Servant he had summoned what seemed like such a long time ago. "You don't know anything at all? I've already told you, Fakers like you and me shouldn't care for concepts like pride, honor, loyalty. We are simply fakes, illusions created by our warped ideals. If you thought I would not follow the concepts that kept me alive for so long, the same things I tried to teach someone like you, then you are a bigger fool than I originally imagined. All of the training I gave you was worthless now that I see the truly important ones continue to elude you even now, after everything you've experienced. I've simply wasted my time with someone like you in the end."_

_"Is everything we've been through pointless then? Does nothing matter to you?" Shirou was on the verge of attacking Archer and he knew this, walking over to Kirei's dying body and taking from it the black sword he had stabbed into it._

_"You're right in one aspect, none of the things you've done with my power matter to me. All of them are worthless to me. The experiences through, they've been enjoyable from the regular circumstances I am used to." Archer kicked Kirei's body off to the side, his face twisting into a sneer as he observed the dead priest. "I certainly enjoyed killing this trash when I had the chance."_

_"Yo.." _

_Archer struck then, striking with amazing speed and throwing Shirou back and into Rin, who caught him as Gilgamesh stepped forward. He was covered in his armor and simply glared at Archer, almost daring him to make a move as the Gate of Babylon opened behind him, dozens of portals opening behind him and shielding the collapsed Shirou and Rin from view._

_"I dare you Archer, try it." Gilgamesh smirked as he spoke, knowing the Servant was weak from the many battles of the past few days. "I have wished to tear apart one of you Fakers since this War has begun."_

_"My fight isn't with you King of Heroes." Archer turned away from Gilgamesh, looking down the street and the skyscrapers of Fuyuki City visible in the distance. "I only wish to fight my Master." Archer spoke the last word with obvious disdain, his hatred for Shirou a surprising thing to Rin as she tried to keep him awake, the Magus already fading in and out of consciousness from his brief movements, showing how weak he truly was after the last several days._

"_Archer, why do you want to kill him? What has he done that to you th…"_

"_Quiet you damn girl!" Archer lost his composure at Rin's words, his preferred twin blades appearing in his hands as he lunged forward. "Stop speaking as if you know everything!"_

_Gilgamesh stopped Archer from reaching the Magus, a spear with the blade shaped like a bird appearing from the Gate of Babylon and appearing in his hands. Archer knew it was pointless to attempt to battle against the King of Kings at his current state and so quickly jumped back but the white sword, Bakuya, was pointed at Shirou, steel grey eyes locking with steel grey eyes, one filled with a now cold rage while the other struggled against exhaustion._

"_Shirou Emiya, meet me at where your warped ideals came to be. I will kill you there tomorrow before this War is over." Archer wasted no more energy with them at that point, astralizing his form before another word could be spoken._

"_Archer…" Shirou couldn't keep his eyes open any longer, quickly losing his battle to remain conscious as Gilgamesh picked up an already healing Saber from the ground._

"_Girl, take the Faker back to his home. I will take Saber back myself." Gilgamesh allowed his armor to fade, somewhat annoyed at Archer's departure. _

_Without another word, the King of Heroes continued his walk down the street with Saber over his shoulder and, after some deliberation, Rin hurried to follow after him, careful to move with the exhausted Sword Magus._

"Why do you think this plan will even work, Shirou? Angra Mainyu corrupted the Grail itself, how are you so sure it won't do the same to you?" Rin's question didn't bring a response from Shirou for a long time, several moments passed before the Emiya sighed, resting his head in his hands before turning to face Rin.

"That's what I'm worried about, I don't know if my plan will work in the first place so I decided to have one last option, a last resort if you want to put a name to it." Shirou gestured to the door and, more importantly, to where the luggage was stored. "I don't carry it with me everywhere I go, but I keep it close by just incase everything goes horribly wrong."

"I take it this involves killing yourself as well?" Rin's question was met with a grim smile from the Emiya.

"You know me too well Tohsaka, and in such a short time." Shirou stood up from the table before walking over to the unconscious Luviagelita and injected her with something else, instantly waking up a now annoyed Edelfelt Magus as he freed her.

"Sorry, the conversation was a private one but now I feel I can answer most of your questions about the Grail War, it's a pet project of yours, researching it that is." Shirou spoke in an open and inviting tone, his smile made to be disarming as Rin's mind once again moved back to Archer, how similar the two were to one another.

"I believe so, it is the least you people owe me for your treatment." Luviagelita flipped her blonde curls over her shoulder, an expression of displeasure clear on her face, the Magus ignoring how Shirou's expression seemed to shift, losing any trace of emotions in what seemed like an instant.

"If you weren't so annoying than perhaps you wouldn't be treated as such, I have no problem killing you if it comes to it. Something I believe will benefit us in the end, especially if you insist on keeping your current mindset." As Shirou spoke, several swords appeared floating over Luviagelita's head. "It's bad enough I've had to deal with all the Magus in the Grail War, but if I have to deal with another than I will most likely simply kill you to prevent the headaches you will cause."

Rin realized something as she saw Shirou so easily threaten Luviagelita. He was his father's son. Despite how he acted he was still the son of a man known as the Magus Killer.

Shirou was glad when he saw his words and brief actions were enough to silence Luviagelita, he was far from a pleasant mood at the moment and he didn't have neither the time or patience to deal with a Magus. If he did, he would snap and almost undoubtedly kill someone because of it. As it was, he was at nearly the end of his rope with everything he was dealing with, especially the none too helpful urges the embodiment of the curses writing themselves into his skin had begun giving him.

Outside the room, Illya set bored. Her Onii-chan had left her to talk with Tohsaka and Edelfelt and had just left her with an almost overbearing Saber and an uncaring Gilgamesh. She would usually just talk with her two maids but until Tohsaka could check them over more, they were forbidden from getting close to her, something put in place by Shirou after what had nearly happened to her while they were away in London.

'At least things will pick up soon, that's one thing to look forward to.' Illya knew it wasn't in a good way but she knew it was inevitable, truly she had expected to be attacked already. 'We Einzberns are persistent, they'll be coming for me some. They'll want the Class Cards now that they've materialized.'

It was times like this that Illya missed Berserker, he may have hurt her at first but it was no different than what everyone else did, everyone would eventually hurt her, it was simply a matter of time. Only Berserker had actually ever protected her, he had defended her all the time from anything that wanted to hurt her, he was willing to give up everything for her. Something he eventually did.

She could still remember that day, her invincible Hercules was blackened by the tainted Holy Grail, she had no control over him anymore. His last actions were done completely willingly, he protected her even than.

'He's not here anymore.' Illya looked down, avoiding anyone from on the plane from seeing the single tear she shed for her fallen Berserker.

* * *

><p>AN: Well how was it? Again sorry for the long delay between updates, I'll try not to have it happen again, I'll try to have a new chapter for this story out every week if I can manage it.<p>

Peace.


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